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The Theater: Courage and Survival in the Defining Atrocity of the Ukraine War
1 pages, Audio CD
Published May 19, 2026
About the author
James Verini
8 books29 followersThe winner of a National Magazine Award and a George Polk Award, James Verini is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, and is a National Geographic staff writer.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 25, 2026
It's strange reading about an event that is both very recent and so completely overlooked. The Ukraine War has moved to the back pages (if at all) here in the U.S. unless the two political parties want to use it as a cudgel on the other. In the meantime, people are fighting for their lives and atrocities continue.
James Verini tells the story of the aforementioned overlooked event. In 2022, Russia dropped bombs on a theater which housed numerous civilians trying to escape the worst of the fighting. Before you say, "It's war. Bombing happens," I will point out, as Verini does, that the theater had gigantic letters visible from the sky which said "children" in Russian. Verini also points out that the bombs only fell on the theater. This was not a larger bombing run that went wrong. It was a deliberate atrocity. Verini follows the story of how people came to the theater and created a safe place (allegedly) away from the war. It became a new society within a warzone until it ceased to exist.
The narrative is a microhistory in every sense. The content runs a little over 150 pages and only gives the most bare bones background of the war and the area of focus. Verini's prose is stripped down and factual in the best way. You don't need to use flowery language when the story is strong enough on its own. My only complaint is with the beginning of the book. Verini starts right when the bombs fall and then quickly jumps back in time to before everyone arrived at the theater. I've seen this method work plenty of places where you front-load part of the action and then step back. Since this is a microhistory, it felt like padding rather than a storytelling tool. It shouldn't keep anyone from reading this and is just a note for anyone who might be a little thrown off like me. Keep going. It's worth it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Simon and Schuster.)
James Verini tells the story of the aforementioned overlooked event. In 2022, Russia dropped bombs on a theater which housed numerous civilians trying to escape the worst of the fighting. Before you say, "It's war. Bombing happens," I will point out, as Verini does, that the theater had gigantic letters visible from the sky which said "children" in Russian. Verini also points out that the bombs only fell on the theater. This was not a larger bombing run that went wrong. It was a deliberate atrocity. Verini follows the story of how people came to the theater and created a safe place (allegedly) away from the war. It became a new society within a warzone until it ceased to exist.
The narrative is a microhistory in every sense. The content runs a little over 150 pages and only gives the most bare bones background of the war and the area of focus. Verini's prose is stripped down and factual in the best way. You don't need to use flowery language when the story is strong enough on its own. My only complaint is with the beginning of the book. Verini starts right when the bombs fall and then quickly jumps back in time to before everyone arrived at the theater. I've seen this method work plenty of places where you front-load part of the action and then step back. Since this is a microhistory, it felt like padding rather than a storytelling tool. It shouldn't keep anyone from reading this and is just a note for anyone who might be a little thrown off like me. Keep going. It's worth it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Simon and Schuster.)
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Theater; courage and survival in the defining atrocities of the Ukraine war, by James Verini, in the town of Mariupol a midsize town in the Ukraine it was spring 2022 and is the world was dealing with Covid the residence there were worrying if they were going to be bombed they would hear bombs close by and just pray it wouldn’t hit them and then a few that were players in the local theater decided to make it an unofficial shelter. In the book we meet the brave souls that did their best to make life normal for the children there like having school for them they had a café they were even music lessons and a playroom. They did their best to to help everyone make it through such a scary time. Unless you were one of those who couldn’t even get up and face the day because you were paralyzed with fear or depression because any day now they could bomb the theater. not to mention it was very clear that life as they knew it was over. Everyone who could helped from doctors, teachers,, policeman, the actors even put on little skits to entertain in this new makeshift little town that once gave entertainment to the masses but it wouldn’t last long because Russia was moving in and although the Ukraine military kept them that day for 22 days they eventually had to admit defeat when they bomb the theater and other important aspects in Mariupol. like in lots of tragedies many people shined and held the group together like the teenager who was wise as well beyond his years the couple who cooked the food and served up the soup and they’re seven kids who you can always find somewhere around the café there’s some really heartbreaking and at the same time heartwarming stories in this True account of a few weeks being in the war in Ukraine if you want to know what it’s like read this book it’s not only scary it’s joyful it will make you cry make you laugh this book was so good the only difference between me and the people in this book is that I can close the book and go about my business while these people still fighting the good fight to keep the country that was their’s to begin with. it just makes me sad because in the book they also mention American weapons they received and now all they get is a leader disrespected by a president who said he would help but doesn’t. Either way I won’t get into that just know this is a really good book and I just wish there was something I could do for these people my heart breaks for them I can’t imagine living with so much fear day by day and yet the fight goes on I hope we get a real president who can help the Ukraine president put a stop to this because Putin has everything and just wants more because it’s there. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The bombing of the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater in Mariupol, Ukraine was not just another military act, and it definitely was not a mistake. It was a deliberate assault on civilians and a people’s culture. Clearly, it was a war crime. Rather than framing this event through geopolitical analysis, however, Verini does something much more ambitious and engaging. He views the atrocity through a lens of the people who sheltered inside the building, allowing the story to emerge through the accumulation of individual testimony.
This approach is both the book’s strength and its weakness. By braiding together multiple perspectives, Verini is able to approximate the confusion and fragmentation experienced by those trapped in the theater. He shows how ad hoc systems of governance emerge, how rumors harden into fear, and how ordinary people improvise structures of care under bombardment. In effect, the theater becomes a microcosm of a society under existential threat. Yet the sheer number of characters can be disorienting. By insisting on the irreducible individuality of dozens of people whose lives intersect briefly and chaotically, Verini presents his readers with a difficult challenge. Keeping track of so many people with unfamiliar names and places that most have never seen can be quite confusing. On the other hand, one might argue that such confusion accurately mirrors the lived reality of siege conditions, where strangers are thrown together and identities blur under stress.
Theaters are sites of culture, assembly, and imagination. One could envision them as buildings displaying signs designating them as “safe places.” Clearly the people of Mariupol viewed their theater that way, as does Verini. By focusing on the human cost rather than military strategy, Verini emphasizes the moral stakes as opposed to any conceivable Russian military strategy.
“The Theater” is not a sweeping history of the Ukraine war; it is a tightly bounded case study. But in its disciplined scope and refusal of abstraction, it offers a sober, human-scale examination of how atrocity unfolds—and how communities endure, even briefly, within it.
This approach is both the book’s strength and its weakness. By braiding together multiple perspectives, Verini is able to approximate the confusion and fragmentation experienced by those trapped in the theater. He shows how ad hoc systems of governance emerge, how rumors harden into fear, and how ordinary people improvise structures of care under bombardment. In effect, the theater becomes a microcosm of a society under existential threat. Yet the sheer number of characters can be disorienting. By insisting on the irreducible individuality of dozens of people whose lives intersect briefly and chaotically, Verini presents his readers with a difficult challenge. Keeping track of so many people with unfamiliar names and places that most have never seen can be quite confusing. On the other hand, one might argue that such confusion accurately mirrors the lived reality of siege conditions, where strangers are thrown together and identities blur under stress.
Theaters are sites of culture, assembly, and imagination. One could envision them as buildings displaying signs designating them as “safe places.” Clearly the people of Mariupol viewed their theater that way, as does Verini. By focusing on the human cost rather than military strategy, Verini emphasizes the moral stakes as opposed to any conceivable Russian military strategy.
“The Theater” is not a sweeping history of the Ukraine war; it is a tightly bounded case study. But in its disciplined scope and refusal of abstraction, it offers a sober, human-scale examination of how atrocity unfolds—and how communities endure, even briefly, within it.
July 25, 2026
✦ Book Review: The Theater: Courage and Survival in the Trenches of Ukraine by James Verini
✧ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, @SimonBooks
➤ 𝚂𝚈𝙽𝙾𝙿𝚂𝙸𝚂
Journalist James Verini chronicles the war in Ukraine through the experiences of the soldiers and civilians living it. Blending frontline reporting with personal stories, he examines the realities of modern warfare, the resilience of those caught in the conflict, and the human cost of a war that continues to reshape lives and nations.
➤ 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂
James Verini delivers a powerful and deeply human account of the war in Ukraine, focusing less on military strategy and more on the people living through it. Rather than reducing the conflict to headlines or battlefield maps, he gives readers an intimate look at the courage, fear, sacrifice, and determination of those caught in an unimaginable situation. The writing is immersive and compassionate without becoming sensational, making it difficult to read at times, not because of the prose, but because of the reality it captures.
As someone who has followed conflict for many years, this book served as another reminder that every war ultimately comes down to people. Behind every offensive, every trench, and every casualty report are individuals with families, hopes, and futures forever changed. It's a sobering read that left me reflecting less on the politics of war and more on its enduring human cost. While not an easy book to read emotionally, it's an important one that reminds us why stories like these matter.
✧ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, @SimonBooks
➤ 𝚂𝚈𝙽𝙾𝙿𝚂𝙸𝚂
Journalist James Verini chronicles the war in Ukraine through the experiences of the soldiers and civilians living it. Blending frontline reporting with personal stories, he examines the realities of modern warfare, the resilience of those caught in the conflict, and the human cost of a war that continues to reshape lives and nations.
➤ 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂
James Verini delivers a powerful and deeply human account of the war in Ukraine, focusing less on military strategy and more on the people living through it. Rather than reducing the conflict to headlines or battlefield maps, he gives readers an intimate look at the courage, fear, sacrifice, and determination of those caught in an unimaginable situation. The writing is immersive and compassionate without becoming sensational, making it difficult to read at times, not because of the prose, but because of the reality it captures.
As someone who has followed conflict for many years, this book served as another reminder that every war ultimately comes down to people. Behind every offensive, every trench, and every casualty report are individuals with families, hopes, and futures forever changed. It's a sobering read that left me reflecting less on the politics of war and more on its enduring human cost. While not an easy book to read emotionally, it's an important one that reminds us why stories like these matter.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
“I thought to myself, what war? It’s the twenty-first century, people are civilized.” The people of Mariupol were unprepared for the Russian attack on their country. It was incomprehensible. I considered my own complacency and unpreparedness for disaster. My owned charmed life. Reading this book, I was continually considering what if it were me? It could happen. War could come to my own hometown. This connected me to the story and these people.
The people who took refuge in Mariupol’s theater were the lucky ones, self organizing to provide food and water and medical care, and even activities for the children. They lived with uncertainty and fear.
“The full spectrum of reactions was on display in the theater,” James Verini tells us. The crisis brought out the best and the worst in people.
Verini presents the siege through the lives of survivors of the bombing of the theater. Who they were, how they reacted and survived, what came of them later.
Ordinary folk, like you and me, living through the unimaginable.
It is chilling to hear how the Russian soldiers accepted Putin’s propaganda. As one woman was rushing another to the hospital which was under Russian control, a soldier said ‘aren’t you glad we came to save you?’ She had no choice but to thank him.
Inspiring, shocking, and riviting.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster and LibraryThing for a free book.
The people who took refuge in Mariupol’s theater were the lucky ones, self organizing to provide food and water and medical care, and even activities for the children. They lived with uncertainty and fear.
“The full spectrum of reactions was on display in the theater,” James Verini tells us. The crisis brought out the best and the worst in people.
Verini presents the siege through the lives of survivors of the bombing of the theater. Who they were, how they reacted and survived, what came of them later.
Ordinary folk, like you and me, living through the unimaginable.
It is chilling to hear how the Russian soldiers accepted Putin’s propaganda. As one woman was rushing another to the hospital which was under Russian control, a soldier said ‘aren’t you glad we came to save you?’ She had no choice but to thank him.
Inspiring, shocking, and riviting.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster and LibraryThing for a free book.
May 25, 2026
I think you could make a legit case that this book might be more in depth or longer. But it is a reporting book as opposed to a straight forward history book. Verini's prose style is that of a magazine length piece that sometimes appears in the NY Times, New York, or London Review of Books. He follows a few families and friends, and the afterword details a little how their lives have changed.
The title refers to the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupal. It was destroyed by bomb/missile attack on March 16, 2022. It had been functioning as a shelter and housed civilians, including children.
Verini details how the Theatre was able to function as a place for people to stay, and it points to how communities can work together. Also the resilience of the human spirit. There is a bit about Ukraine's history in terms of its relationship with Russia, but not too detailed. Enough that if you know nothing, you will be better informed.
It is a compelling read.
The title refers to the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupal. It was destroyed by bomb/missile attack on March 16, 2022. It had been functioning as a shelter and housed civilians, including children.
Verini details how the Theatre was able to function as a place for people to stay, and it points to how communities can work together. Also the resilience of the human spirit. There is a bit about Ukraine's history in terms of its relationship with Russia, but not too detailed. Enough that if you know nothing, you will be better informed.
It is a compelling read.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.
The telling of this horror is soul wrenching. What was required of these Ukrainian people to merely exist during the Russian invasion in their town is related through personal stories. The author was able to connect with survivors who were willing to tell their stories.
My main concern here was that sometimes the stories and characters (all REAL people) became confusing due to how MANY there were. This, however, is a part of their history which must not be forgotten.
The telling of this horror is soul wrenching. What was required of these Ukrainian people to merely exist during the Russian invasion in their town is related through personal stories. The author was able to connect with survivors who were willing to tell their stories.
My main concern here was that sometimes the stories and characters (all REAL people) became confusing due to how MANY there were. This, however, is a part of their history which must not be forgotten.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I cried as a read this book, which traces the emergence of a theater as a shelter for Mariupol civilians during the early days of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent bombing of that theater by Russia. The author centers the narrative around a variety of people from different backgrounds who had found their way to the theater and who worked together to help each other and their fellow citizens survive in increasingly dire conditions. A heartbreaking story, and one that deserves more attention from the world.
July 22, 2026
How could I give five stars to a book about war? This was an excellent book but also the saddest book I have ever read because it is real. Yes. the writer has an attitude. but it was appropriate. The book left me in tears.
July 22, 2026
A survival story like no other. Wrenching and sobering.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews