Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and filmmaker, and the founding editor-in-chief of Dozhd, Russia's last independent TV news channel. He is also the author of a number of books, including All the Kremlin's Men (2017), a critical portrait of Putin's inner circle that was a number-one bestseller in Russia. In 2014 he received the International Press Freedom Award. As soon as the invasion of Ukraine began, Zygar wrote a public condemnation that was signed by hundreds of his cultural and journalistic contacts and then by thousands of ordinary citizens. A new law criminalizing criticism of the war swiftly followed, and Zygar went into exile.
A superb account of all that led to Vladimir Putin's brutal and
misbegotten invasion . . . Provides an ardent, informed
understanding of the present
*The New Yorker*
The pattern of anti-Ukrainian persecution repeats from one era to
the next, in Zygar's haunting telling . . . a sorry tale of big
brother chauvinism and oppression. He seeks to demolish, myth by
myth, the "imperial mindset" that led to the current conflict . . .
A fine book
*Observer*
Excellent . . . Cleverly weaves the story of independent Ukraine
with an amusing look at the career as a comedian and actor of its
president, Volodymyr Zelensky . . . Although a committed supporter
of Ukrainian independence, Zygar is honest about Ukraine's record
in the past three decades. While other recent works sympathetic to
the Ukrainian cause elide over the epic corruption there, Zygar is
clear that before Zelensky was elected Ukraine was near to being a
failed state
*Sunday Times*
A sweeping, ambitious and impassioned chronicle... makes for
compelling reading with its searing portrayal of the "long road to
war". It's a fiery, informed reckoning of past and present
relations... A bold prediction from a brave writer.
*Irish Times*
Zygar demolishes Putin's myths about Ukraine with a fury born out
of shame at what is being done in his country's name. It is just
possible to dream that, one day, War and Punishment will be taught
in Russian schools in place of the Kremlin's deadly lies.
*OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of BUTLER TO THE WORLD*
Why is my country fascist - and what is my role in that? For Russia
to ever change these are the questions Russians will need to ask.
Zygar does it with a searing mix of history and
self-reflection.
*PETER POMERANTSEV, author of THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA*
Zygar has invented a new genre. If Tolstoy's story is a wide river
and Proust's is a slow river, Zygar's is a chase.
*DMITRY MURATOV, WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2021*
Passionate and perceptive, one of Russia's best journalists busts
the myths underpinning the country's turn towards
ultra-nationalism. Read it - and hope that Russians do too.
*ANNA REID, author of BORDERLAND*
To account for Russia's descent into the abyss and the most bloody
war in Europe since WWII, Zygar invites us to walk an uneasy path
of reconsideration of the recent past. His book is not only a guide
to that past but also a powerful call to change the present.
*SERHII PLOKHY, author of THE GATES OF EUROPE*
PRAISE FOR MIKHAIL ZYGAR
Of the many accounts written about the Russian president, Mikhail
Zygar's insider's guide to his court is one of the most
compelling
*Guardian*
One of those important thinkers who helps us to not lose our
memory
*Nadya Tolokonnikova, Pussy Riot*
Zygar approaches history like he's interviewing it - listening to
what those involved had to say and expertly putting that in
context. The result is a riveting unfolding of history as it was
being lived
*Foreign Policy*
Knowing he could always follow many colleagues and activists into
jail, hospital, or into the graveyard, Zygar persists
*CNN*
Zygar is one of the heroes of Putin's Russia
*Washington Post*
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