Readers are offered a biography of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673-1729), the famous associate of Peter I, a man who made perhaps the most dizzying career in the history of Russia: a former "pie maker" who sold food on the streets of Moscow, he not only turned into "His Grace Prince," Generalissimo, but after the death of Peter became the uncrowned ruler of a vast Empire. The fall of the "semi-sovereign ruler," who with steadfastness and courage met his link to distant Berezov, turned out to be just as sudden. The fascinatingly written book belongs to the pen of the famous historian Nikolai Ivanovich Pavlenko, a recognized connoisseur of Russian history of the 18th century.