The new book by the well-known Ukrainian historian, chief of the Department of history of National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, professor Natalia Yakovenko, despite being a university textbook and a propaedeutic course on a professional subject, is written in a simple and easy to read manner which is far from academic cliché and embodies high academic style in its best meaning. However, the word 'textbook' even in its most positive meaning applies to this book only as a kind of mask that hides much more complex structure, not only stylistically but by its content and pragmatism as well. As the professor herself admits, this book does not belong to any classic genres. This is not a history of historiography, not a methodology of history and this is not an introduction to history as well.