The book tells about the guard service of the Tsaritsyn fortress in the Volga Ponizovye, about the participation of the Volga freemen in popular movements led by Razin, Bulavin and Pugachev, about the colonization of the Lower Volga region and the development of Tsaritsyn in the pre-reform years. The trade and industrial development of the city during the period of capitalism, the formation of the Volga proletariat and its struggle in the late XIX - early XX centuries are covered in detail. A large place is given to the heroic defense of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War, the construction of the first child of the five-year plan - the tractor plant, the Battle of Stalingrad. The book tells about the post-war revival of the hero city, about the formation of the architectural and artistic appearance of modern Volgograd, about the construction of grandiose construction projects of the Volgo-Don Canal named after V.I. Lenin and the Volga Hydroelectric Power Station named after XXII Congress of the CPSU. The book tells about people - creators of a new life, about how the labor and combat traditions of Volgograd arose and multiplied. The economic, socio-political and cultural life of the hero city is considered in close connection with the general history of the country.