The audio book includes two stories by Mikhail Sholokhov united by the Great Patriotic War. “The Science of Hatred” was written in 1942 and published on June 22—the first anniversary of the war’s start. The plot of “The Fate of a Man” is based on real events. In spring 1946, while hunting, Sholokhov met a man who told him his tragic story. In 1959, the story was filmed by director Sergey Bondarchuk, who played the leading role. “The Fate of a Man.”