War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

One of my favorite smart observations (probably courtesy of Ashleigh Brilliant) is "that more books have been published from people's need to write than people's need to read." Such is the case here, as this book feels like an effort to strike while the iron is hot by a writer who needs to quickly make a mark; having become a dissident exile.

Having said that, if you know only the bare minimum of Russian and Ukrainian history since the break-up of the Soviet Union, I suspect that you will find this book useful. Apart from that the author's apologetic for having, at one point, bought into Russian triumphalism without much thinking is a notable distinction.

This book tries to cover a very large slice of history, covering the historical development of Ukraine as a nation/people s well as its relations over time with Russia/Soviet Union and also the build up to the current conflict. In doing so a vast array of characters (with hard to read and remember names , many very similar) are referenced in what is a vey compressed story. This makes fully understanding the complexity difficult and it is not helped bay journalistic style better suited to shorter stories than this one.