The book of the famous historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences V.N. Zemskov in a polemical form, on the basis of extensive concrete historical material, reveals various aspects of the life and activities of Soviet people on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War. Such issues as the peculiarities of the mentality and moral, psychological and ideological state of Soviet society, the production and patronage relations of the city and the village, the folk feat on the construction of defensive lines, the restoration of industry and agriculture, the controversy regarding the human losses of the USSR in 1941-1945, were covered, etc.