A damning, well-argued case study in war by proxy.
American intervention didn’t start the current war in Ukraine, but it certainly didn’t help.
Of Ukraine, writes Kinzer, “few places on earth have been the target of American covert and political action for as long.” U.S. machinations on the ground there date as far back as the Stalin era. A longtime student of foreign policy and global history, Kinzer lays out a syllogism of sorts: “The Soviet Union is America’s mortal enemy; its greatest internal threat comes from Ukraine; the CIA should do everything possibly to intensify that threat.” One early Cold War campaign inserted guerrilla bands that included veterans of the Ukrainian SS, who had massacred much of the country’s Jewish population in World War II; as one CIA agent commented, “It was a visceral business of using any bastard as long as he was anti-Communist.” The Soviets easily dispatched these invaders, but that didn’t deter American intelligence analysts and handlers, who had nearly unlimited funds (5 percent of the Marshall Plan’s billions of dollars were diverted to them) and no shortage of ideas. That the Soviets routinely and thoroughly infiltrated other CIA paramilitary and espionage networks—including one founded by Hitler’s intelligence chief for Eastern Europe—seems not to have troubled Allen Dulles and company. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kinzer writes, President Clinton pressed for three of Ukraine’s neighbors—Poland, what was then the Czech Republic, and Hungary—to be admitted to NATO, a prospect he held out for Russia as well: “In his idealized vision, Russia would democratize, join the rest of Europe in accepting US hegemony, and live in permanent peace under America’s benevolent wing.” Later efforts to enroll Ukraine itself in NATO contributed, naturally, to Vladimir Putin’s certainty that the West was waging war on him. While not excusing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kinzer’s narrative does put the lie to the Biden administration’s assertion that it was “totally unprovoked.”
A damning, well-argued case study in war by proxy.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781250413086
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.
A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.
On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice.
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A valuable contribution to our understanding of one of history’s most vital figures.
An epistolary memoir of Nelson Mandela’s prison years.
From August 1962 to February 1990, Mandela (1918-2013) was imprisoned by the apartheid state of South Africa. During his more than 27 years in prison, the bulk of which he served on the notorious Robben Island prison off the shores of Cape Town, he wrote thousands of letters to family and friends, lawyers and fellow African National Congress members, prison officials, and members of the government. Heavily censored for both content and length, letters from Robben Island and South Africa’s other political prisons did not always reach their intended targets; when they did, the censorship could make them virtually unintelligible. To assemble this vitally important collection, Venter (A Free Mind: Ahmed Kathrada's Notebook from Robben Island, 2006, etc.), a longtime Johannesburg-based editor and journalist, pored through these letters in various public and private archives across South Africa and beyond as well as Mandela’s own notebooks, in which he transcribed versions of these letters. The result is a necessary, intimate portrait of the great leader. The man who emerges is warm and intelligent and a savvy, persuasive, and strategic thinker. During his life, Mandela was a loving husband and father, a devotee of the ANC’s struggle, and capable of interacting with prominent statesmen and the ANC’s rank and file. He was not above flattery or hard-nosed steeliness toward his captors as suited his needs, and he was always yearning for freedom, not only—or even primarily—for himself, but rather for his people, a goal that is the constant theme of this collection and was the consuming vision of his entire time as a prisoner. Venter adds tremendous value with his annotations and introductions to the work as a whole and to the book’s various sections.
A valuable contribution to our understanding of one of history’s most vital figures.Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63149-117-7
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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