The tragic events in Libya and the armed intervention of NATO countries in the civil war have stirred up worldwide interest in the figure of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The book by academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, professor of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. Z. Egorin is a portrait and at the same time a story about the activities of Muammar Gaddafi - “the Bedouin of the Libyan Desert,” as he calls himself, the leader of a new type of Arab state - the Socialist Jamahiriya. Before the uprising of Gaddafi's opponents and NATO bombing, Libya was one of the prosperous countries of North Africa. Gaddafi is not just a charismatic people's leader, he is the author of the so-called “third world theory”, outlined in his “Green Book”. It provides for the implementation of direct democracy - the participation of the people in managing politics and the economy without traditional institutions of power. Why did NATO countries and the elites of Arab countries dependent on the West take up arms against Gaddafi? We will find the answer in the book of A. Z. Egorin. The author knows Libya well; he worked for six years (1974–1980) in the Jamahiriya as an adviser to the USSR Embassy. This is the first fundamental publication in Russia about Muammar Gaddafi and the current political situation in North Africa.