The heroes of the book are 60 people born in 1949-1950 in Moscow and Saratov; there they graduated from their schools, and then dispersed to different cities and countries.
With each of them, the author, American Slavist Donald Reilly, conducted many hours of interviews. He asked about the family’s history, about their own experiences with the Cold War, the thaw, stagnation, perestroika, the «dashing nineties.» From these testimonies, like Lego pieces, Reilly constructs a collective portrait of Soviet and post-Soviet society. However, to the same extent it is a portrait of a man whom the era endlessly tested for strength, not allowing him to relax. A collision familiar to all of us. Perhaps that is why it is difficult to tear yourself away from the book.
UFO, 544 p.