The vision of the Ukrainian history dominant in the Russian Empire and in the Soviet Union focused exclusively on the heroic Cossacks and disenfranchised peasants. There was no room in it for the local elites: the Ukrainian aristocracy (szlachta) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As the result of this biased perspective, Ukrainians to this day know very little about the life of those people. This book invites the readers to take a closer look at the Ukrainian aristocracy. This introduction is done in a somewhat unusual form, through true anecdotes from the life of aristocracy gleaned from court records and other sources from the time. We get glimpses of the elites not only in their best garbs but also in their well-worn home clothes. The book brings together 105 brief chapters that describe how these people saw themselves, how they fought and made peace, how they fell in love and got married, how unwavering they were in the defense of their rights in court. Last not least, these essays explore whether the Ukrainian elites were mere extras and viewers in history or its active makers, resolute and strong in their insistence on defending and expanding their rights and freedoms.