Benedict Sarnov - literary critic, publicist, author of many literary biographies ("Mandelstam's Case," "Zoshchenko's Case," "Mayakovsky. Suicide," "The Solzhenitsyn Phenomenon"), and memoirs ("There was no boredom"), as well as four volumes of historical essays "Stalin and the Writers." The plot of Benedict Sarnov's new book unfolds against the backdrop of historical events - from the beginning and mid-60s (Khrushchev's dispersal of exhibitions in the Manege, the process of Sinyavsky and Daniel) to the present day (1993, storming the White House). The heroes of the book - Bulat Okudzhava, Naum Korzhavin, Viktor Nekrasov, Vladimir Voinovich, Fazil Iskander, Andrey Sinyavsky, Vladimir Maksimov - are people who played an important role in the author's life.