The book was compiled of previously unpublished, and mostly classified, archival documents testifying to the Soviet government's massive sales of works of art at foreign auctions in the 20s and 30s of the last century. These documents reflect not only the “everything is for sale” principle, but also the dramatic struggle that Hermitage employees often waged for the preservation of museum values. Behind the seemingly dry, clerical lines of various kinds of memos, acts and orders, one can discern living realities, circumstances, everyday details of the complex, contradictory time that our country has experienced.