A well-written, convincing case for why Ukraine matters to the world’s future.
In this nonfiction book, a foreign relations expert surveys the global impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine and offers context.
Dedicated to “all Ukrainians” who “shall triumph over this war too,” this volume analyzes the Eastern European nation’s historic relationship with Russia and how the world came to its “most challenging moment” since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Chowdhury’s erudite account walks readers through the turbulent history of Ukraine during World War II and the Cold War, its post-Soviet independence, and the forces inside Russia that initiated the current conflict. While this story is not unknown, it is related here in an accessible yet nuanced writing style. And the book often adds underreported elements to its contextualization of the war. While not justifying his behavior, the work complicates the standard depictions of Vladimir Putin, reminding readers that he petitioned for NATO membership during his first term as president. Indeed, throughout Putin’s first two terms in office, at a time when he “needed the West to rebuild, reshape and reorganize Russia from the economic mess he inherited,” he presented his country as an unflinching advocate of America’s war on terror and provided logistical support for United States endeavors in Afghanistan. It was only after his subsequent reelection in 2012 that Putin’s posturing shifted to anti-Western rhetoric that promised Russian citizens a “new destiny” and the nation’s return to its former glory, which corresponded with military expeditions in Syria, Libya, Georgia, and Crimea. The roots of this book lie in Chowdhury’s undergraduate thesis at George Mason University, which in part explored Ukraine’s complex history. Two decades later, as a fellow at the Global Policy Institute with a graduate degree from Harvard University and multiple books on Middle Eastern geopolitics and nuclear arms, the author provided significant updates to his unpublished work on Ukraine. Backed by solid research found in more than 30 pages of references, this volume is a detailed, historically minded addition to the conversations surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine. But at more than 400 pages, the book may be intimidating to some readers.
A well-written, convincing case for why Ukraine matters to the world’s future.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2022
ISBN: 9798888317846
Page Count: 421
Publisher: Fabrezan & Phillipe
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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