This book of literary scholar and prominent public figure of Perestroika Yury Karyakin (1930-2011) is the first-ever collection of his conversations, literary criticism and political journalism of 1960s to 2000s. Karjakin’s articles and interviews are the examples of a lively dialogue with culture in terms of its past and present. Impeccable intellectual honesty of the author is the result of his sublime civic consciousness and free thought.