I read this book in my childhood. More than the tales I liked the lithographs and paintings of the book. As a child I did not know the difference between propaganda and real history. The propaganda is evident in every tale in the book starting with the story of Stepan Timofeyevich Razin who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia in 1670–1671. Only stories of the people that are in line with Marxist view are picked up and narrated in the book. Exceptions are the tales of Peter the Great, General Suvorov and the Great Patriotic War ( World War-II).
The author of the book carefully avoided talking about Stalin, and Czar in great detail. For that matter there is not a single picture of Czar's family nor there is any mention of Soviet occupation of Poland. All in all, the author did a good job in creating a grand narrative of role of Soviet Union and the acts of many unsung hero's of soviet union who sacrificed their lives in service of their country throughout the existence of Russia and Soviet Union.