In this book you will read the short story “The Fate of Man” and “Don Stories”. “The Fate of Man” (1956–1957) is a poignant story about the times of the Great Patriotic War. One of the first works of Soviet literature in which the war is shown truthfully and clearly. Captivity, German concentration camps, escape, return to the front, loss of loved ones, difficult post-war times, an attempt to find a soul mate, to escape loneliness. The story was filmed by Sergei Bondarchuk, who also played the main role in it - the novice director's film won the main prize at the Moscow Film Festival in 1959. "Don Stories" (1924-1926) is a collection of six stories describing the events of the Civil War. Although the scene of action remains the Don, with its special flavor and specific Cossack spirit, it is obvious that the events in these short stories can be projected onto the whole of Russia - the war reveals feelings, it is in such a bloody time, when the boundaries of what is permissible are erased, that it becomes clearer who was able to save dignity and to remain a Human and who is not.