The book by Viktor Berdinsky, created in the genre of "oral history", is based on the memories of old peasants, which he began to collect back in the 1980s. These people survived such storms, which would have been enough for several centuries of quiet, crisis-free development. With them, the vast continent of national life has sunk into the past. Their stories are contradictory, sometimes crumpled, but they beat the pulse of real life and sound a living Russian language. The characters of the book recall the details of rural life of the pre-war and wartime-how they lived and survived, how they worked and raised children, what they believed in, how they ate and dressed. The book includes more than a hundred unique photographs taken by the outstanding photographer S. A. Lobovikov, which capture the everyday life of Russian peasants of the early XX century. Viktor Berdinskikh (1956) - doctor of historical Sciences, Professor, chief researcher of the Institute of language, literature and history, Komi Scientific center, Ural division, Russian Academy of Sciences.Sergey Lobovikov (1870-1941) - photographer, winner of the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), honorary member of the London Society of Fine Arts.