The voluminous work of the most prominent Russian specialist in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who, according to contemporaries, opened "a new era in the development of the scientific study of the past of the Lithuanian-Russian state." Thanks to his fundamental research, M.K. Lubavsky was the recognized head of the scientific school of researchers involved in the development of Lithuanian-Russian history. Lyubavsky on the pages of the press entered into a detailed discussion, analyzed in detail and critically the arguments of the reviewers and defended the correctness of his position. The book is still mandatory today for all researchers to study the history and political culture of the Lithuanian-Russian state, which Lyubavsky considered one of the possible alternative centers for uniting all Russian lands.