Alexander Shchipkov’s book “Before and After Politics” was written at the intersection of genres. Political essays are interspersed in it with short incidents from life, which tend either to be a story, or to a prose poem, or to a religious parable. The reader, together with the author, will travel on the train "Mariupol - Leningrad", meet the Yablochny Spas in Tarusa, look into the abyss of modern Nazism, and turn to the heritage of the poets of the Russian Bronze Age - Nikolai Zabolotsky and Oleg Okhapkin. The chessboard, and in some ways mosaic, composition of the book reflects the desire of the author and his like-minded people to remain human in the animal world of politics. The author seeks to protect himself from two temptations: to subordinate his soul to political elements or, on the contrary, to flee from the battlefield. Both do not suit him. After all, as Charles Montalembert said, “you are free not to engage in politics, but in this case politics itself will take care of you.” In this situation, difficult conversations about politics require special sincerity and intellectual honesty.