This book is a fascinating historical study on the personality of the infamous Lawrence Beria. Reconstructing events, relying on documents and testimonies of contemporaries, the author claims that L. Beria was not at all the cruel and bloody executioner that he has traditionally been considered for many years. The author sees in the figure of L. Beria one of the most talented and perspicacious figures of the Stalinist era, and considers the crimes that are attributed to him to be largely an invention of his rivals in the struggle for power.