In Russian history, it seems, there is no person about whom so much was known as about Lenin. But this is a pure illusion, because in reality surprisingly little is known about Lenin. Too much was distorted, even more was withheld, too many facts could spill over the personality " of the leader of the revolution " unexpected light, and therefore hushed up. Volkogonov's book is of great interest to the modern reader, since in working on it the author, admitted to the super-secret party archives, used unique documents that first appeared before the reader.