The library of the project “History of the Russian State” is the best monuments of historical literature recommended by Boris Akunin, which reflect the biography of our country from its very origins. The book by the famous Polish historian of the late 19th - early 20th centuries Kazimir Waliszewski about the first Romanovs is brilliant an example of salon-boudoir historiography. Despite the apparent ease of presentation, the work of K. Waliszewski is the result of the author’s painstaking work in Russian and foreign archives. The book is replete with colorful details of the daily life of the court of the Russian tsars and tells about the background of famous events, which official science was usually silent about.