"The Possessed: or, The Devils" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a novel first published in 1871–72. A fictional Russian town descends into chaos as conspirators attempt revolution, led by the cunning Pyotr Verkhovensky. Dominating the story is the mysterious aristocrat Nikolai Stavrogin, who exerts extraordinary influence over nearly everyone around him. This political satire and psychological drama explores the catastrophic consequences of nihilism taking hold in 1860s Russia, where destructive ideas possess individuals and threaten to consume an entire society.