The book of selected works by the most prominent Russian historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky includes his essays and lectures on famous figures of the past-Sergius of Radonezh, Ivan the Terrible, Peter I, Elizabeth I, Catherine II, etc. A significant part of the collection consists of chapters from the Course of Russian History – Klyuchevsky's main work, which has become a monument of Russian historical thought and has earned the author a reputation as a classic of Russian and world science. The second section of the book includes articles, lectures and speeches about literature and art, about outstanding personalities of Russian literature and journalism of the XVIII-XIX centuries-Fonvizin, Novikov, Pushkin, Lermontov.