Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915), the largest statesman of the last reign of the Romanovs, was in power for more than three decades, initially managing the railways, and then - moving from the Minister of Finance to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers - and a huge imperial economy. Witte's name is associated with turning points in Russian history: gold and foreign exchange reform, the introduction of the state "wine monopoly," the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Manifesto on October 17, 1905 on civil liberties, the creation of the State Duma, Portsmouth Peace with Japan, and many other large-scale events. The expediency of some of them still causes heated debate in historiographic circles, forming a large and different-vector layer of literature. Doctor of Historical Sciences S.V. Ilyin first presented to the readers a holistic biography of Witte, created on the basis of the study of numerous documentary materials. The first edition of the book (2006), which aroused great interest, was highly appreciated: the Russian Biographical Institute, the Russian State Library and Literaturnaya Gazeta awarded it the Best Books and Publishers of the Year award in the Biography nomination.