Revolutions don't happen unexpectedly, and empires don't fall out of the blue. The main lesson we can learn from the 1917 revolution is an understanding of why the emperor and his entourage, in a situation that demanded radical internal reforms, not only chose not to undertake these reforms, but, on the contrary, tried with all their might to reverse the country's development, strengthening reliance on 'traditional values,' Orthodoxy, and the army. Chapter after chapter, through the living stories of people, Mikhail Zygar shows how the empire is inexorably moving toward disaster and why nothing can save it. The protagonist of this book is Russian civil society. It emerges in the early years of the 20th century, develops before the reader's eyes, and disappears before his eyes shortly after 1917. By learning the chronicle of events a century ago, the reader can understand what is happening today and try to peer into the future.