Konstantin Simonov was one of the most celebrated and decorated writers in Soviet literature during World War II and after. The government awarded him the State (former Stalin) Prize for Literature six times (in 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, and 1950), and in 1967 Simonov received the highest honor given by the Soviet Union to its writers, the Lenin Prize for achievements in literature. During his lifetime he held key positions in Soviet literary administration: he served as an editor in chief of the most popular Soviet "thick" journal, Novyi mir (New World), from 1946 to 1950 and from 1954 to 1958, and of Literaturnaia gazeta (Literary Gazette) from 1950 to 1953. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of both the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union; he also served as secretary of the Union of Soviet Writers and in 1974 was finally awarded the highest honor in the Soviet system, the title of Hero of Soviet Labor...