Stefan Mashkevich was born in 1971 in Kyiv. Graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Kyiv State University. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Author of several dozen scientific papers on physics and physical chemistry. Researcher of the history of Kyiv. Author of the books: “Tram pennies” (2004), “Kiev Trolleybus / Kiev Trolleybus” (co-authored with K. Kozlov, 2009), “Two days from the history of Kyiv” (2010), “Streets of Kyiv. Retro travel" (2015; 2nd edition, 2018), "History of the Kiev tram lines" (2018) and dozens of articles on history. Lives and works in Kyiv and New York. “Kyiv 1917–1920” is a fundamental study dedicated to one of the most difficult periods of the existence of Kyiv as an independent city with a long history and as the future capital of Ukraine. This book is not a scientific monograph in the narrow sense of the word, but at the same time it is absolutely documentary. A hundred years is more than enough time for none of the witnesses to remain alive; we can now rely only on recorded evidence of one kind or another. But there are so many events and evidence that the story is divided into four volumes. At the same time, we are talking not only about events, but to a large extent about conflicts. To remind people of what happens when people don’t know how to negotiate was not the main goal, but the story inevitably turned out to be about this too. The first volume, “Farewell to the Empire,” covers the period from March 1917 to January 1918, starting with the adoption of the city news of the fall of the monarchy before the first arrival of the Bolsheviks. Plunging headlong into this turbulent period in the history of Kyiv, you inevitably notice how planned, and sometimes even random events miraculously line up into a bizarre puzzle, which we now call History.