Interview with the founder of the Irkutsk Book Shelter In 2016, perhaps the only book shelter of its kind appeared in Irkutsk. It owes its existence to Evgeny Gintov, a man who not only saved many printed publications, but also created an entire cultural space in the city. Especially for Gorky, Alexandra Poleva found out how he came up with such an unusual idea and what it took to bring it to life, despite the resistance of officials.

About the book by Gabriele Pedulla “Niccolò Machiavelli. To gain power, not to gain glory" There are countless brief introductions to the work of Niccolo Machiavelli - from purely academic ones to self-help on the topic of how to conquer the whole world while working as an office manager. Often, such manuals present directly opposite concepts, and the ideas of the author of “The Prince” are interpreted this way and that.

Classics from the Shadows: Benedict Lifshits Benedict Livshits is remembered as a brilliant poet-translator and memoirist, but the fact that he himself wrote poetry and that during his lifetime he was compared to Mandelstam is usually forgotten. Valery Shubinsky, author of articles from the “Classics from the Shadows” series, decided to remind Gorky readers of this. All of us, since February 24, 2022, have found ourselves in the face of advancing barbarity, violence and lies.

An excerpt from Bertrand Marie’s book “The Dance of Death, or the History of Cemeteries” Individual burial has long been the privilege of a few: for centuries, the majority had to be content with communal burials. How funerals became what we know today is described in a book by French sociologist and essayist Bertrand Marie, published by CoLibri. We publish an excerpt from it. All of us, since February 24, 2022, have found ourselves in the face of advancing barbarity, violence and lies.