Rechflot: The History of the River Fleet of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union / Alexey Ivanov. — Moscow: Alpina Non-Fiction, 2024. — 552 pages. ISBN 978-5-00223-119-5 Everyone loves the navy. But Russia is a river power, and the true fleet of Russia, one of the greatest in the world, is the river fleet. Yet society almost does not notice it. That is, it does not notice the country it lives in. Rus turned into Russia, spreading along the rivers. Pioneers sailed on strugs and ladias, planked boats and barges. Peter I turned his state into an empire and built the first canals for the capital, and Catherine II, continuing Peter’s work, established navigation rules on them. Later, these rules were extended to all the rivers of the Fatherland. Thus, from a heterogeneous mass of river vessels, a “regular” fleet was formed. The river fleet. The first Russian steamboat was riverine, and so was the first motor ship. Roads were always scarce in the country, and progress penetrated Russia along the rivers. It was carried by river vessels. Advanced technologies, industrial, economic, and social, first appeared on the river fleet. The river fleet took part in all the affairs of the homeland. Peasants freed from serfdom went to steamboat companies, and the first firms were steamboat companies. The rise of capitalism was marked by river trusts and syndicates. The Civil War was battles of river armored flotillas. Their vessels served the valiant Stakhanovite movement, grand industrial construction projects, and the harsh GULAG. During the Great Patriotic War, river vessels evacuated thousands of factories and millions of people, river ships fought the enemy on fronts. And the postwar boom of the USSR was the boom of the river fleet, when giant bulk carriers sailed the rivers, passenger liners sailed proudly, and hydrofoil ships sped swiftly. This book tells not only about the development of the river fleet, but also about the people who made the river history of Russia. About the internal structure of river life. About its connections with politics and culture. About catastrophes that shook the country and the river fleet. About amazing projects and fantastic dreams. About the inseparable kinship between an ordinary person and a river steamboat. In the end, this book tells about the fate and soul of the nation, because a ship is always both destiny and soul.