1956 is the middle of the Soviet era. Thirty-four years separate it from the creation of the USSR, thirty-four - from the collapse. The story of 1956 itself, even taken out of the historical context, is finished in plot - it begins with the XX Congress, ends with a resolution on the fight against enemy coverage; begins with release from the camps, ends with the appearance of new political prisoners. But, of course, these frosts after the thaw could no longer return the country to the Stalinist regime, and a new warming was inevitable. This book was prepared by Channel Five as part of the 12-episode documentary 1956. Mid-century." The film includes only a small fraction of the 372 interviews we received, information gleaned from archives and periodicals. Meanwhile, historical literature about Khrushchev's time is not too rich, and therefore it seems to us that, put together, this information can become interesting to both historians and the general reader.