A timely, well-researched case for the necessity of Ukrainian victory.
Chowdhury, an analyst at the Global Policy Institute,surveys the geopolitical implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
During a 2004 visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv,the author notes, he was struck by the number of citizens who believed that their nation’s “future lay with the West and not Russia.” Yet, as he traveled into the countryside, he found a more nuanced story, encountering a minority Russian-speaking population who supported Russia; some even had family members working in Moscow. The author draws on his intimate familiarity with Ukrainian and Russian perspectives to make a convincing case for the strategic value of a Ukrainian victory to global stability. He argues that Ukraine represents a “bulwark against potential Russian escalations” as far west as Poland and Germany, and also addresses the humanitarian crisis spawned by the ongoing war in which Ukrainian civilians “face the daily realities of Russian aggression,” including bombings and abductions. The book notes the advantages of sustained Ukrainian support from Western nations, but also asserts that mere financial and military aid may not be enough, noting how the Russian government has navigated sanctions to find “new life” by undercutting oil prices. Chowdhury is pragmatic in his approach; for example, he recognizes the impact of the recent U.S. presidential election and offers an astute analysis of how the European Union could leverage a Russian victory to strengthen economic, military, and political ties with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As the author of multiple books on geopolitical history and contemporary world affairs, Chowdhury offers a scholarly evaluation of the conflict, backed by more than two dozen pages of research endnotes. His learned analysis is enhanced by an engaging writing style that will appeal to general audiences; in addition, the book’s narrative overview of Ukrainian-Russian relations provides important historical context for readers unfamiliar with the region. If the war represents, as the author compellingly suggests, “the deepest crisis in Russian-Western relations since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis,” then this is a solid introductory book on its history and implications.
A timely, well-researched case for the necessity of Ukrainian victory.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2024
ISBN: 9798894805092
Page Count: 370
Publisher: Fabrezan & Phillipe
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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