Book by the famous writer and historian S.E. Tsvetkova is dedicated to the heyday of Ancient Rus' (XI-XIII centuries). The author shows this time in all its complex contradictions: on the one hand, endless princely feuds, on the other, the persistent desire of the great representatives of ancient Russian statehood to unite the country. Tsvetkov traces in detail the gradual decline of the power of Kyiv and the shift of the state center of gravity to the lands of North-Eastern Rus'. The key figures of this time are drawn in an extremely interesting way: Yuri Dolgoruky, Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest.