The book seeks to analyze international conflicts and offers theoretical and practical suggestions to regulate conflict.

Vasily Alekseyevich Maklakov, (1869 - 1957) was a Russian trial lawyer and liberal parliamentary orator, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party and Russian Freemasonry, notable for his advocacy of a constitutional Russian state. His brother Nikolay Maklakov served as Russia's Interior Minister in 1912-15.

PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied World War II convoy in the Arctic Ocean. In July 1942, the Arctic convoys suffered a significant defeat when Convoy PQ 17 lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships during a series of heavy enemy daylight attacks which lasted a week.

The author, who was one of the leading researchers of Russian cinematography, examines the depiction of Jews in Russian Film from 1919-1999.