Passionate and pround, Grigory Melekhov is the most memorable hero in soviet literature. He is at first attracted by the communists' promises of social justice, but soon repelled by their violent methods and finds himself embroiled in the Cossack campaign against them. His is a personal struggle in which loves and loyalties are tested to the full, but also a struggle which reflects the spirit of Russia as a whole during the years of revolution. Reflecting the mixed Cossack and peasant upbringing of Sholokhov himself, Quiet Flows The Don introduces a myriad of caracters in work is essential to an understanding of modern which is essential to an appreciation of Russia's great literary tradition.