This book is the first attempt to present the evolution of the Jewish theme in Russian literature for more than a century and a half: from the Patriotic War of 1812 to the collapse of Soviet power. For many decades, it was subject to both explicit and implicit bans. This book is not just about literature. From the historical and memoir materials involved in the analysis, from the portraits of dozens of writers, analyzes of hundreds of large and small works, characteristics of heroes who were Jews not only in origin but also in thought, way of thinking, which determined the attitude to them and all their life, and sometimes their death, is a picture of the historical destinies of Russian Jewry.
