Based on a wide range of documentary sources, especially those published in recent years, and the achievements of domestic and foreign historians, the book examines the multifaceted problem of Leningrad's struggle for survival under the blockade. The author gives his answer to the questions posed in the latest literature: what reasons led to the long blockade of Leningrad? Who is responsible for the deprivation and suffering that befell the people of Leningrad? What (and in whom) were the reasons for unsuccessful attempts to deblock the city in 1941-1942? What was the relationship between the authorities and the population during the critical months of the blockade? What were the real losses of the civilian population from hunger and the soldiers of the Red Army defending Leningrad? The book shows the blockade life of Leningrad in all its manifestations, examines the nature and motives of the behavior of various social groups of the population, and identifies the main factors of survival under the blockade. A synchronized presentation of events in the blockade ring and beyond it by months (each month of the first year of the blockade is devoted to a separate chapter of the book) made it possible to see the life of the front city in the most difficult time of the blockade in all its tragedy. Documents placed at the end of each chapter, extracts from memoirs and diaries published in recent years, organically complement the author's text.