The book by famous authors A. Andreev and S. Shumov talks about the mechanism of the work of state power, the reasons for the formation and collapse of great empires (ancient Greece and Rome, the powers of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, Persia and Turkey). Particular attention is paid to state power in Russia and the USA, the works on the state of Duke Richelieu and Niccolo Machiavelli are analyzed, the relationship between world anarchism and statehood is analyzed, the main methods of manipulating human consciousness are described. Historical parallels with the situation in modern Russia suggest themselves...