What to Do?

The book «What to Do?» by political prisoner N. Chernyshevsky (1828—1889) appeared in the solitary cell of the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Miraculously, this work passed censorship thanks to a plot similar to seasoned adventure novels and the description of a family drama...
However, immediately after publication, it was strictly forbidden as a most dangerous work for the foundations of the state. As a result, it circulated in copies and caused great agitation in minds. No Russian book before this one had provoked such a resonance. The author managed to convincingly address, in accordance with the trends of the era, the eternal Russian question: «What to do?»