[Arkhangelsk]. North-Western Book Publishing House. 1975. 183 pages. Circulation 35,000. Price 50 kopecks. The book of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor G. G. Frumenkov (Arkhangelsk Pedagogical Institute) is a popular science essay on the heroic past of the Russian North, designed, as stated in the introduction, to promote "education of Soviet patriotism, love for the Motherland, its heroic past and beautiful present" (p. 15). Naturally, the requirements for such publications are increasing. Popular does not mean simplified, and to justify its purpose, such essays must not only meet the principles of strict scientific content, but also meet certain artistic criteria. G. G. Frumenkov sets himself the task of examining the military activity of the Solovetsky Monastery , this great spiritual feudal lord, to protect his possessions from external enemies, which, as the author rightly believes (p.162), had an all-Russian significance. Therefore, the main attention is paid to the history of the creation of fortifications in the Russian North, revealing the defensive significance of the monastery, showing the heroism of the Pomors in the fight against invaders. page 159 The author drew on an extensive literature on the subject (mainly pre-revolutionary) and a wide range of printed and archival sources. The chapter on events in Pomerania during the Crimean War is thoroughly documented. It uses the funds of the Central State Archive of the USSR, the Central State Archive of the USSR and the State Archive of the Arkhangelsk Region. Much of the material already known to science has been successfully refined, detailed, enriched with additional examples and expanded. The reader is confronted with the difficult centuries-old struggle of Russia with Sweden, England, Denmark and other states for the preservation of the northern territories, for retaining access to the northern seas. The events of the Swedish intervention in Pomerania in 1611 and the blockade of the White and ... Read more