Russian historian, lawyer, public figure A. V. Lakier in 1856–1858. traveled through Western Europe, North America and Palestine. He published excerpts from his travel notes in Sovremennik, Otechestvennye zapiski and Russky Vestnik. Lakier’s book, reviewed by Dobrolyubov, was not the first Russian description of America, but, as the reviewer of “Notes of the Fatherland” noted, it became the first description based not on a cursory glance of a tourist, but on the desire to study the country, and in particular, its government structure. Dobrolyubov's article about this book has outgrown the scope of the review. Supplemented with material from other foreign sources, it joined the discussion of the “American” issue in Russian journalism.