“Balance of the Century” is an extremely interesting memoir about the fate of that part of the Russian intelligentsia who did not leave Russia after the October Revolution, although they had every opportunity to do so, and did not join the “exodus of the 70s.” The author of the book, a famous art critic, historian and writer N. M. Moleva, talks about how the successive political regimes throughout the 20th century tried to influence public consciousness, about the dramatic, sometimes tragic events in the lives of those with whom the concept of “cultural figure” was associated. .