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The War Came to Us: Life and Death in Ukraine
A WATERSTONES AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A breathtaking exploration of Ukraine's past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by a leading journalist who has lived and worked in Ukraine for over a decade.
'Vivid… Shocking… [Miller] brings a seasoned, personal perspective to his account of both the 16-month conflict and its wider roots.'
Daily Telegraph
'A beautiful blend of memoir, reportage and history...superb.'
Irish Times
'...powerful and insightful...Miller provides a human dimension to a bloody conflict.'
Kirkus Reviews
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and a foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia's war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier.
This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller's personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine's modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine's peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin's warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond.
With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people - and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence.
A breathtaking exploration of Ukraine's past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by a leading journalist who has lived and worked in Ukraine for over a decade.
'Vivid… Shocking… [Miller] brings a seasoned, personal perspective to his account of both the 16-month conflict and its wider roots.'
Daily Telegraph
'A beautiful blend of memoir, reportage and history...superb.'
Irish Times
'...powerful and insightful...Miller provides a human dimension to a bloody conflict.'
Kirkus Reviews
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and a foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia's war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier.
This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller's personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine's modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine's peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin's warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond.
With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people - and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence.
401 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 6, 2023
107 people are currently reading
782 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
October 26, 2023
Christopher Miller arrived in Ukraine from Portland, Oregon in 2010 as a young Peace Corps volunteer. He had hoped to be assigned to Africa, but arrived in Ukraine with an open mind. He knew very little about Ukraine and spoke neither Ukrainian nor Russian. However, he was open to learning about the country. During his time spent as a teacher in Bakhmut, he learned to speak both Ukrainian and Russian and grew to love the culture and the people he met and interacted with.
He found that he didn't really want to leave Ukraine permanently. Currently, he divides his time between Brooklyn, New York and Ukraine. He continued his career as a freelance journalist writing for various news organizations, among them being Politico, BuzzFeed, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, CNN, The Guardian, as well as appearing on news programs like CNN, MSNBC, BBC, NPR, and CBC to name a few.
In this book, Miller provides considerable insight into the history and events leading up to and including the war in Ukraine today. Anyone interested in current affairs - especially what is happening in Ukraine now - can learn much from reading this thorough, unforgettable, and at times deeply personal, account. For those individuals this book would be a must read!
He found that he didn't really want to leave Ukraine permanently. Currently, he divides his time between Brooklyn, New York and Ukraine. He continued his career as a freelance journalist writing for various news organizations, among them being Politico, BuzzFeed, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, CNN, The Guardian, as well as appearing on news programs like CNN, MSNBC, BBC, NPR, and CBC to name a few.
In this book, Miller provides considerable insight into the history and events leading up to and including the war in Ukraine today. Anyone interested in current affairs - especially what is happening in Ukraine now - can learn much from reading this thorough, unforgettable, and at times deeply personal, account. For those individuals this book would be a must read!
May 17, 2023
I would like to thank Bloomsbury Continuum for providing me with an ARC.
Since picking up this book, I have learned that the author, Christopher Miller is a Russian propagandist and has pushed around the narrative of Ukrainian Nazis that Putin is fighting against. Miller ignores criticism and blocks those who do criticize him. Many other reviewers have pointed it out and have articulated these points better than me, so I recommend reading those to get a clearer point of the issues.
I expected a completely different book from description I was provided. The writing itself was lacking in many ways, particularly in sources and taking care in discussing the topic. As a nonfiction book, I would have liked to see some resources utilized to show where information was coming from.
Since picking up this book, I have learned that the author, Christopher Miller is a Russian propagandist and has pushed around the narrative of Ukrainian Nazis that Putin is fighting against. Miller ignores criticism and blocks those who do criticize him. Many other reviewers have pointed it out and have articulated these points better than me, so I recommend reading those to get a clearer point of the issues.
I expected a completely different book from description I was provided. The writing itself was lacking in many ways, particularly in sources and taking care in discussing the topic. As a nonfiction book, I would have liked to see some resources utilized to show where information was coming from.
December 31, 2023
I subjected myself to this steaming pile of horseshit to see how much of Christopher Miller's writing has changed since it became slightly less fashionable & lucrative to incessantly write about so-called ‘Ukrainian nazis’. The Christopher Miller of before the 24th of February 2022 wrote very differently, to whoever he’s decided to be now. There was one quote (among many) where I scoffed out loud - “In Kyiv, people laughed about what seemed like such a pathetic effort to paint Ukraine as a country of far-right extremists”. Here Miller was referring to ruzzian propagandists, but he conviently leaves out the fact, that he was also doing exactly this on the international English-language front. 🤡🤡Make it make sense please🤡🤡
This turncoat was a key player in propagating the nazi propaganda against Ukrainians before 2022, and no matter how much he wants to rebrand himself now, he won’t be able to hide his previous deeds. If you support Ukraine in any form, firstly don’t spend your money & time reading this pile of shit and secondly just don’t read anything by Miller, period.
This turncoat was a key player in propagating the nazi propaganda against Ukrainians before 2022, and no matter how much he wants to rebrand himself now, he won’t be able to hide his previous deeds. If you support Ukraine in any form, firstly don’t spend your money & time reading this pile of shit and secondly just don’t read anything by Miller, period.
May 10, 2023
Christopher Miller's introduction to Ukraine was as a Peace Corp worker in the Donbas before the Euromaidan Revolution and after his Peace Corp stint, he stayed as a journalist. He is an American but his heart is Ukrainian. He gives western readers an up-close perspective of a wide range of life experiences in Ukraine, including life in the Donbas before and after the 2014 invasion and what's happening there now. He takes readers on a survey of contemporary Ukrainian life under the shadow of the genocidal dictator next door. This is an eye-witness history of Ukraine from the mid-2000s until now. A must-read for any westerner trying to understand what it means to be Ukrainian right now.
June 10, 2023
A book I didn’t want to read: a book it would be shameful not to read.
Christopher Miller , currently correspondent in Ukraine for the Financial Times, previously a world and national security reporter for Politico and correspondent for Buzzfeed, first came to Ukraine as a member of the Peace Corps in 2010. That is, 4 years before the war even started (Russia invading Crimea in 2014) He was based initially in Artemisvsk, part of the Eastern Donbas. He clearly, from the off, fell in love with the country, its peoples, and its complex history, from it’s long past to its connection within and without the USSR. Ukraine’s journey was towards the West, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, though there were always those who wanted closer links with Russia. Ukraine chose independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
His long connections within Ukraine, his prior independent journalist credentials, made him a naturally excellent correspondent. Here was someone with an understanding and an desire to report truth. He had, in those days, Ukrainian friends, colleagues and acquaintances who were Russian speakers, and felt a connection with Moscow as well as those who had more of a connection to the cosmopolitan direction which Kyiv represented. History being complex, and going back a long way.
Obviously the events of 2014, where the West did not kick up too much of a fuss at the invasion of Crimea, led to Ukraine and Russia having been in a state of war since then, even if the West did not really wake up to this properly till February 24th 2022
Miller is a clear and engaging writer, and does not mince his descriptions of what is going on, there are necessarily graphic descriptions of what war entails. It is inevitably often a literally sickening read. This was why I did not want to read it, but it would have felt wrong not to. Living in a fairly safe world, the least we can do, as this war drags on, horrifically, surely must be to not look away.
Christopher Miller , currently correspondent in Ukraine for the Financial Times, previously a world and national security reporter for Politico and correspondent for Buzzfeed, first came to Ukraine as a member of the Peace Corps in 2010. That is, 4 years before the war even started (Russia invading Crimea in 2014) He was based initially in Artemisvsk, part of the Eastern Donbas. He clearly, from the off, fell in love with the country, its peoples, and its complex history, from it’s long past to its connection within and without the USSR. Ukraine’s journey was towards the West, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, though there were always those who wanted closer links with Russia. Ukraine chose independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
His long connections within Ukraine, his prior independent journalist credentials, made him a naturally excellent correspondent. Here was someone with an understanding and an desire to report truth. He had, in those days, Ukrainian friends, colleagues and acquaintances who were Russian speakers, and felt a connection with Moscow as well as those who had more of a connection to the cosmopolitan direction which Kyiv represented. History being complex, and going back a long way.
Obviously the events of 2014, where the West did not kick up too much of a fuss at the invasion of Crimea, led to Ukraine and Russia having been in a state of war since then, even if the West did not really wake up to this properly till February 24th 2022
Miller is a clear and engaging writer, and does not mince his descriptions of what is going on, there are necessarily graphic descriptions of what war entails. It is inevitably often a literally sickening read. This was why I did not want to read it, but it would have felt wrong not to. Living in a fairly safe world, the least we can do, as this war drags on, horrifically, surely must be to not look away.
May 14, 2023
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." Shakespeare, The Tempest
This book is riveting.
There's no fancy frills. No glossy coating.
Just the words of a journalist who has seen much.
And a reminder that, like much of the world, Ukraine is still at war.
This book is riveting.
There's no fancy frills. No glossy coating.
Just the words of a journalist who has seen much.
And a reminder that, like much of the world, Ukraine is still at war.
June 26, 2023
THE WAR CAME TO US is a masterpiece of reporting and a seminal work of recent history by Ukraine's foremost foreign correspondent, Christopher Miller. It should be read by everyone as the world seeks to understand the horrific consequences of Russia's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which continues to ravage the country as the world's attention drifts elsewhere.
I am troubled by a number of one-star reviews on this site that suggest unaccountably that Miller was biased in his reporting in favor of Russia and that he unfairly eviscerated Ukraine's far-right. As someone who has followed Ukrainian politics closely over the past two decades, I can attest that Miller's reporting does not demonstrate pro-Russian biases and that his characterization of Ukraine's far-right movements has been scrupulous and sophisticated, reflecting best practices at the time of writing. To me, these one-star reviews read as being written by people with political agendas that sadly share some qualities with the country's small, fringe far-right movements. In the minds of these commentators, Ukraine and Ukrainians can do no wrong and should not be subject to critical inquiry--a proposition that any decent journalist would reject.
Instead, this book should be understood as one of a kind and an immense contribution. What I have long admired about Christopher's reporting is that his sources and experiences in Ukraine's countryside and small towns are as deep as his ones in the country's halls of power. He knows the nuances of Ukrainian culture and shares them with you in this book. He has repeatedly taken on great risks to portray the country at its most vulnerable--on its bloody battlefields and embattled protest squares--and conveys the stakes of this work with great vividness. He powerfully portrays his emotional connection to Ukraine through this long, bittersweet passages on his time in Bakhmut, which now serve, shockingly, as an elegy for a city that has been completely destroyed by the Russians.
I'm very grateful for this book.
I am troubled by a number of one-star reviews on this site that suggest unaccountably that Miller was biased in his reporting in favor of Russia and that he unfairly eviscerated Ukraine's far-right. As someone who has followed Ukrainian politics closely over the past two decades, I can attest that Miller's reporting does not demonstrate pro-Russian biases and that his characterization of Ukraine's far-right movements has been scrupulous and sophisticated, reflecting best practices at the time of writing. To me, these one-star reviews read as being written by people with political agendas that sadly share some qualities with the country's small, fringe far-right movements. In the minds of these commentators, Ukraine and Ukrainians can do no wrong and should not be subject to critical inquiry--a proposition that any decent journalist would reject.
Instead, this book should be understood as one of a kind and an immense contribution. What I have long admired about Christopher's reporting is that his sources and experiences in Ukraine's countryside and small towns are as deep as his ones in the country's halls of power. He knows the nuances of Ukrainian culture and shares them with you in this book. He has repeatedly taken on great risks to portray the country at its most vulnerable--on its bloody battlefields and embattled protest squares--and conveys the stakes of this work with great vividness. He powerfully portrays his emotional connection to Ukraine through this long, bittersweet passages on his time in Bakhmut, which now serve, shockingly, as an elegy for a city that has been completely destroyed by the Russians.
I'm very grateful for this book.
July 4, 2023
Cristopher is a well known pro-russian asset, still by no reason treated as an independent observer and a man who has some experience in Ukrainian context.
All the years he was spreading an artificial story about "far right problem" in Ukraine. He made it up from people wearing wrong patches. Whereas no far right parties or communities never been elected to national nor local councils. According to international research structures like Pew in Ukraine there's the lowest antisemitism level among European countries. Far right parties taking around 20% of votes in Germany and France, but Cristopher don't see any problem with that - he is busy demonising Azov Regiment, fearless defenders of Mariupol.
By spreading his lie and fakes he is responsible for this book to emerge.
All the years he was spreading an artificial story about "far right problem" in Ukraine. He made it up from people wearing wrong patches. Whereas no far right parties or communities never been elected to national nor local councils. According to international research structures like Pew in Ukraine there's the lowest antisemitism level among European countries. Far right parties taking around 20% of votes in Germany and France, but Cristopher don't see any problem with that - he is busy demonising Azov Regiment, fearless defenders of Mariupol.
By spreading his lie and fakes he is responsible for this book to emerge.
July 28, 2023
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In my opinion, this book never should have been written. It is an insult to the Ukrainian people! Not worth reading at all, very slanted towards the Russian Putin.
In my opinion, this book never should have been written. It is an insult to the Ukrainian people! Not worth reading at all, very slanted towards the Russian Putin.
May 25, 2023
Excellent and original reporting from a journalist who's been in Ukraine for 15 year. An intimate and loving portrait of the Ukrainian people.
August 3, 2023
An author trying to whitewash himself after failing of his misleading propaganda work on russia. Basically author is guilty on many death of Ukrainians as civil as military. It is shame this book even published and sold, he should be investigated for spreading false information as "journalist".
The lesson of Gareth Jones is not learned.
The lesson of Gareth Jones is not learned.
July 3, 2023
Personally I did not enjoy this book, nor more importantly did I find it aided my understanding of current events in Ukraine in any way. Firstly I have no idea what Christopher Miller intended the point of his book to be. This, combined with a rather incoherent structure, means the book is just not compelling enough. Secondly I did not find the writing style great, more like a collection of hastily written blog posts thrown together and mixed up a little. Thirdly, as a journalist Christopher Miller writes like a journalist of course. This means that despite his obvious deep affection for Ukraine, his journalistic compulsion to 'bothsidesism' means that the book seems to veer from random incident to random incident in a series of vaguely related events (this happened, and this happened, and then this happened, and that happened ....ad infinitum). I did not find the writing biased but nor did I find it illuminating. Special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for a no obligation advance review copy.
September 4, 2023
My favorite book on Ukraine
I've read 35 books on Ukraine and 15 on Russia since 2014. This is my favorite! The author used to live in Bakhmut as a Peace Corp volunteer in 2010. He was right in Maidan Square during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. Miller was in Crimea and the Donbas in 2014. And of course in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. Because he saw events happen in person and he spoke to people on the ground as they were happening, Miller is able to write in detail about what EXACTLY has been going on in Ukraine since 2013. I have not found this in any other book on the 2 countries. But perhaps what makes this such a compelling and powerfully moving book is that Miller's account of the events is very personal. Since he has been in Ukraine for so long, he has a personal and close connection and deep friendships with so many Ukrainians. You will not find this in any other book by a non-Ukrainian about this war.
I've read 35 books on Ukraine and 15 on Russia since 2014. This is my favorite! The author used to live in Bakhmut as a Peace Corp volunteer in 2010. He was right in Maidan Square during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. Miller was in Crimea and the Donbas in 2014. And of course in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. Because he saw events happen in person and he spoke to people on the ground as they were happening, Miller is able to write in detail about what EXACTLY has been going on in Ukraine since 2013. I have not found this in any other book on the 2 countries. But perhaps what makes this such a compelling and powerfully moving book is that Miller's account of the events is very personal. Since he has been in Ukraine for so long, he has a personal and close connection and deep friendships with so many Ukrainians. You will not find this in any other book by a non-Ukrainian about this war.
July 19, 2023
In 2010, Christopher Miller applied to join the Peace Corps and arrived in the Donbas region of the Ukraine as a school teacher. He fell in Love with the country, its people and their culture and grew accustomed to being the only American in Artemivsk. There are little vignettes of his life pre-internet: women and girls selling their highly prized hair Eminem’s music blasting out from a neighbour’s apartment and McDonalds seen as fine dining.
He explores the Donbas and loves visiting the beautiful countryside, towns and cities such as Mariupol and Bakhmut. Now these once thriving historic places are no more.
He becomes a journalist and sees at first hand the political corruption and game playing that led to the Orange Revolution and the authoritarian crackdowns that followed. This in turn led to Putin’s unprovoked an invasion and annexation of Crimea. The West did little as it did not want to provoke him and increase Russian aggression. But if you let a bully take a chunk then soon they will come for the rest. Which Putin did in 2022 with another unprovoked invasion. The increasingly brutal and bitter war shows no signs of ending and 7 million Ukrainians have fled their country so far.
Miller is good at writing about the human cost of war; the people who cannot leave, the Russian deportations of Ukrainians and the people he meets and tries to help but then has to move on without knowing what happened to them. A drone destroys a residential building and its inhabitants are found embracing in the rubble, she pregnant with their first child. People living without any amenities at all and going amongst them are the body collectors and the chroniclers of war crimes.
The fate of Flight MH17 is discussed. It was shot down and was claimed to be a spy plane whereas it was a plane full of ordinary travellers. All evidence of who shot it down had been cleared away.
He is an observant and at times entertaining writer as when he describes shelves of rejected vegan burgers in an abandoned supermarket or his Eminem loving neighbour speaking to him in rap talk.
This is a book that I wish had not had to be written but it told me so much about events in Ukraine leading up to the 2014 invasion of which I was unaware. I was left with the determination of the Ukrainian people to fight for their country no matter what. Miller quotes from the Tempest by William Shakespeare ‘ Hell is empty and all the devils are here.’ which seemed bleakly appropriate for a war that seems to have no ending.
My thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.
He explores the Donbas and loves visiting the beautiful countryside, towns and cities such as Mariupol and Bakhmut. Now these once thriving historic places are no more.
He becomes a journalist and sees at first hand the political corruption and game playing that led to the Orange Revolution and the authoritarian crackdowns that followed. This in turn led to Putin’s unprovoked an invasion and annexation of Crimea. The West did little as it did not want to provoke him and increase Russian aggression. But if you let a bully take a chunk then soon they will come for the rest. Which Putin did in 2022 with another unprovoked invasion. The increasingly brutal and bitter war shows no signs of ending and 7 million Ukrainians have fled their country so far.
Miller is good at writing about the human cost of war; the people who cannot leave, the Russian deportations of Ukrainians and the people he meets and tries to help but then has to move on without knowing what happened to them. A drone destroys a residential building and its inhabitants are found embracing in the rubble, she pregnant with their first child. People living without any amenities at all and going amongst them are the body collectors and the chroniclers of war crimes.
The fate of Flight MH17 is discussed. It was shot down and was claimed to be a spy plane whereas it was a plane full of ordinary travellers. All evidence of who shot it down had been cleared away.
He is an observant and at times entertaining writer as when he describes shelves of rejected vegan burgers in an abandoned supermarket or his Eminem loving neighbour speaking to him in rap talk.
This is a book that I wish had not had to be written but it told me so much about events in Ukraine leading up to the 2014 invasion of which I was unaware. I was left with the determination of the Ukrainian people to fight for their country no matter what. Miller quotes from the Tempest by William Shakespeare ‘ Hell is empty and all the devils are here.’ which seemed bleakly appropriate for a war that seems to have no ending.
My thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.
July 19, 2023
Christopher Miller is a wonderful advocate for Ukraine from the very first page where he gives an overview from the eighth century all the way to today other fight to gain independence and ultimately to keep it. He does a wonderful job covering a country that has a violent past but has also seen peace. I couldn’t even imagine Noah Kahan or role model taking up guns and fighting to keep the country free but that is what’s happening in Ukraine they’re popular pop artist instead of touring the country are now policeman fighting to keep the freedom that most of us in America take for granted. We also get to read about the babies that are born to fathers that have already died trying to give them the nation they can live in peacefully. We need many civilians and politicians those who have hope in the future of Ukraine and those who want to jump in the pocket of Russia and let the chips fall where they may. Christopher Miller covers it all and doesn’t with respect and a great grasp on the country the culture and their hopes and dreams. Most of this book is sad and heartbreaking but it also has silver linings where you see what is possible for this little country that could. We even get to relive the election of Crimea which was one of the catalyst to Russia going to war with the Ukraine. This is an interesting book and one that really sets down the real reason Russia attacked Ukraine and all those responsible and those who are victims of it I want to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I can’t enjoy some thing worth so many are suffering I will say it was extremely interesting and one I found hard to put down for a nonfiction book that is a big deal. I read a lot of nonfiction and this was a stellar read! I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
March 18, 2024
Chris Miller is a fellow Portlander with a palpable love for Ukraine that began during his time in the peace corps, and grew as he covered the 2013-2014 Maidan revolution as a journalist. Miller was also present for the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, has held personal interviews with Zelensky, and has been present for the current war of Russian aggression as a wartime journalist. For those unfamiliar with Ukraine’s recent history, Miller lays out the trajectory of the past decade. However, even if you are familiar with all the events covered, the personal accounts and experiences recorded here are absolutely worth reading.
This book is an excellent read for someone who wants a reminder of why Ukraine still needs our attention, and why their ultimate victory matters. I found myself in tears at many moments, and equally furious at others. Russian propaganda is so powerful and these days I even hear clueless Americans repeating Putin’s arguments, without realizing who they’re quoting.
Слава Україні! Героям слава!! 🇺🇦
This book is an excellent read for someone who wants a reminder of why Ukraine still needs our attention, and why their ultimate victory matters. I found myself in tears at many moments, and equally furious at others. Russian propaganda is so powerful and these days I even hear clueless Americans repeating Putin’s arguments, without realizing who they’re quoting.
Слава Україні! Героям слава!! 🇺🇦
January 21, 2024
This is an excellent, human centred account of the war and the events that led up to it. Christopher Miller takes a thoughtful and considered approach that feels as much a memoir of his life in Ukraine as a historical retelling of events.
I also happened to read this while in Kyiv and had the unintended benefit of getting some great restaurant and bar recommendations out of it!
I also happened to read this while in Kyiv and had the unintended benefit of getting some great restaurant and bar recommendations out of it!
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July 4, 2023Thanks to the Peace Corps, our hero found himself in Ukraine. He was an American volunteer journalist.
You can also read the story of the Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Vitalijowicz here. I was horrified reading about what happened to his flat. I secretly hoped that the perpetrators of the arson were severely punished. Did Oleksiy escape with his life? The author perfectly presents the sad history of Ukraine. The tragic moves of the authorities led to the death of many of their opponents. They lost their lives in unexplained circumstances.
Corruption, corruption and more corruption, this was happening under Yanukovych and his predecessors. Why did Yanukovych act against his citizens? A corrupt government does nothing to improve the lives of its citizens. It's just a scandal. There was no freedom of speech in Ukraine. Fraternizing with Russia has not been good for Ukraine. We see it perfectly nowadays.
Unfortunately, Putin did not give up so easily, he entered Ukraine and wreaked havoc. He tried to convince everyone that this was a "special operation", when in fact it was a dirty war. I secretly hope that Ukraine will win and those responsible for these shameful acts will be severely punished. They should be killed for crimes, rapes, thefts and bombings.
I am sorry that so many innocent people lost their lives. The world will never forgive the Russians for this. Putin, his oligarchs and supporters should suffer the same fate as their innocent victims.
It is a pity that the world is watching this and does nothing apart from humanitarian and military aid. As you can see, the sanctions imposed on Russia are not working. Unfortunately, it reminds me of World War II. Will anything change? Will there be world peace? Honestly? There will never be peace. A tragic and sad truth.
This report is worth reading.
In it you will learn the pure truth about Ukraine, its power and corruption. It's a shame that Russia meddles in the affairs of a country that is not its own. Putin had and still has a grudge against Ukraine that broke away from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He cannot accept the fact that Ukraine wants to be a member of the European Union. Why?
You should figure that out for yourself. Someone would lose too much here. As I read this report, I became more and more terrified. I couldn't stop crying.
It's not in my head. Should you be killed for telling the truth? As this book shows, the truth will kill you, not set you free.
Do you remember what happened in Maidan? If you don't remember, be sure to read this book. The author describes it perfectly here. Get your tissues ready and bring something to calm you down.
Volodymyr Zelensky was warned of Putin's armed attack on Ukraine. The CIA informed the Ukrainian president that the Kremlin had drawn up a list of people to be shot. At the very top was the president of Ukraine. Who else is on this list? After answering, I refer you to the book "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.
Washington has been raising the alarm since March 2021. It was then that Russia began to arm itself intensively.
Why was Zelensky dissatisfied with the US, Canadian and British embassies?
Why didn't the Ukrainian president start arming himself when he was warned?
I liked Zelensky's speech, in which he spoke to the Russian people. But did they listen to him? Rather, they blindly believed their guru, Putin. They gave their own sons and fathers as cannon fodder. And what were they for? If they listened to the president of Ukraine, life would be more beautiful. Putin is a combination of Hitler and Stalin. Nothing good came of it. In this book, you will learn how Zelensky came to power. It was useful information.
Thank you to the author.
Putin is responsible for genocide. I hope he gets severe punishment for this. I learned the shocking story of Oksana and her family. Thanks to her, I was able to experience Russian propaganda. I wonder if Putin thinks the world is blind and can't see what he's doing? I really enjoyed this book because it is very emotional. My blood pressure went up many times.
Thanks to Christopher Miller for sharing his observations with us. He was an eyewitness to the invasion (war) of Russia into Ukraine. Thanks to what he saw, we can now know the complete truth about it.
Remember Ukraine was, is and will be.
Every state has the right to exist. The other state has no right to enter it militarily.
This is not a special operation, but pure war.
I read this book as an e-book. It is a pity that the author did not include a single photo in it. This is the only downside.
If you like reportage and war factual books, you should definitely read "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.
I recommend.
You can also read the story of the Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Vitalijowicz here. I was horrified reading about what happened to his flat. I secretly hoped that the perpetrators of the arson were severely punished. Did Oleksiy escape with his life? The author perfectly presents the sad history of Ukraine. The tragic moves of the authorities led to the death of many of their opponents. They lost their lives in unexplained circumstances.
Corruption, corruption and more corruption, this was happening under Yanukovych and his predecessors. Why did Yanukovych act against his citizens? A corrupt government does nothing to improve the lives of its citizens. It's just a scandal. There was no freedom of speech in Ukraine. Fraternizing with Russia has not been good for Ukraine. We see it perfectly nowadays.
Unfortunately, Putin did not give up so easily, he entered Ukraine and wreaked havoc. He tried to convince everyone that this was a "special operation", when in fact it was a dirty war. I secretly hope that Ukraine will win and those responsible for these shameful acts will be severely punished. They should be killed for crimes, rapes, thefts and bombings.
I am sorry that so many innocent people lost their lives. The world will never forgive the Russians for this. Putin, his oligarchs and supporters should suffer the same fate as their innocent victims.
It is a pity that the world is watching this and does nothing apart from humanitarian and military aid. As you can see, the sanctions imposed on Russia are not working. Unfortunately, it reminds me of World War II. Will anything change? Will there be world peace? Honestly? There will never be peace. A tragic and sad truth.
This report is worth reading.
In it you will learn the pure truth about Ukraine, its power and corruption. It's a shame that Russia meddles in the affairs of a country that is not its own. Putin had and still has a grudge against Ukraine that broke away from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He cannot accept the fact that Ukraine wants to be a member of the European Union. Why?
You should figure that out for yourself. Someone would lose too much here. As I read this report, I became more and more terrified. I couldn't stop crying.
It's not in my head. Should you be killed for telling the truth? As this book shows, the truth will kill you, not set you free.
Do you remember what happened in Maidan? If you don't remember, be sure to read this book. The author describes it perfectly here. Get your tissues ready and bring something to calm you down.
Volodymyr Zelensky was warned of Putin's armed attack on Ukraine. The CIA informed the Ukrainian president that the Kremlin had drawn up a list of people to be shot. At the very top was the president of Ukraine. Who else is on this list? After answering, I refer you to the book "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.
Washington has been raising the alarm since March 2021. It was then that Russia began to arm itself intensively.
Why was Zelensky dissatisfied with the US, Canadian and British embassies?
Why didn't the Ukrainian president start arming himself when he was warned?
I liked Zelensky's speech, in which he spoke to the Russian people. But did they listen to him? Rather, they blindly believed their guru, Putin. They gave their own sons and fathers as cannon fodder. And what were they for? If they listened to the president of Ukraine, life would be more beautiful. Putin is a combination of Hitler and Stalin. Nothing good came of it. In this book, you will learn how Zelensky came to power. It was useful information.
Thank you to the author.
Putin is responsible for genocide. I hope he gets severe punishment for this. I learned the shocking story of Oksana and her family. Thanks to her, I was able to experience Russian propaganda. I wonder if Putin thinks the world is blind and can't see what he's doing? I really enjoyed this book because it is very emotional. My blood pressure went up many times.
Thanks to Christopher Miller for sharing his observations with us. He was an eyewitness to the invasion (war) of Russia into Ukraine. Thanks to what he saw, we can now know the complete truth about it.
Remember Ukraine was, is and will be.
Every state has the right to exist. The other state has no right to enter it militarily.
This is not a special operation, but pure war.
I read this book as an e-book. It is a pity that the author did not include a single photo in it. This is the only downside.
If you like reportage and war factual books, you should definitely read "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" by Christopher Miller.
I recommend.
October 10, 2023
From Peace Corps volunteer to war correspondent, Miller gives us an efficient arc from the earliest days of the invasion going back to "little green men" and the bloodless annexation of Crimea through to the increased tensions and warfare in the Donbass - where desire for independence from Ukraine didn't necessarily mean a desire to be part of the Russian Mir. In the telling, Miller suggests the key prelude to the Minks Protocol of the Battle of Ilovaisk was a massacre of Ukrainian troops given safe passage where it is elsewhere reported that after days of encirclement, Ukrainian forces rejected the DPR's proposal to open a humanitarian corridor on the condition that they abandon their armored vehicles and ammunition, and on the morning of 29 August 2014 began a rash escape with their weapons.
Miller revisits places he knew first hand, as in Bakhmut, and follows up on the effects on the population of the Russian invasion, including reporting on atrocities from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) shot down by Russian-controlled forces to Bucha:
Miller revisits places he knew first hand, as in Bakhmut, and follows up on the effects on the population of the Russian invasion, including reporting on atrocities from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) shot down by Russian-controlled forces to Bucha:
The horrors uncovered would make Bucha, once a quiet, leafy suburb, now synonymous with Russian barbarity. But they would also galvanize the international community into providing greater political and military support for Ukraine as it fought for survival.
June 6, 2023
I struggled through this book. At times I was bored 🥱 the current situation in Ukraine is only spoken about at around 70% into the book too and it’s very Russian driven. So not sure what I think to be honest on the war.
December 29, 2023
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Когда одряхлевшей старухе покажется ядом живая слеза
Я знаю, прорвавшись сквозь синее небо, над городом грянет гроза
Я знаю, что будет война, потускнеют умы, разобьются сердца
И девочка с пулей во лбу будет звонко смеяться над трупом отца
По существу эта книга является сборником репортёрских статей. Пусть эти статьи/истории большие, но всё же это репортёрские статьи. Я хочу сказать, что стиль книги отчётливо показывает, что автор является журналистом. Если рассматривать книгу именно как журналистскую работу, то большая часть книги (70%) написана не плохо, т.е. автор показывает обе стороны конфликта. Тут нужно подчеркнуть, что эти самые первые 70% книги посвящены военному конфликту на Донбассе 2014 года, а также событиям, случившимся на Майдане в 2014. Остальные 30% книги, это уже описание текущей ситуации в Украине. Если первая часть книги (2014) описана профессионально, то описание событий 2022 года уже разительно отличаются, ибо вместо обзора двух сторон конфликта, автор просто пересказывает украинскую версию происходящего. Так как украинскую версию я слышал раз 100, ибо она присутствовала на YouTube каналах, на которые я подписан (DW, FRANCE 24 English, ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, Sky News Australia), то читать 101 раз одно и то же, мне было не очень интересно. Возникает ощущение, что изначально книга была посвящена волонтёрской деятельности автора до 2014 года, событиям 2014 на Майдане, в Крыму и на Донбассе того же года. Возможно, книга планировалась быть выпущенной в 2022 году о событиях 2014, но вот случается полномасштабное вторжение России и автор быстро дописывает большую главу об этом самом вторжении 2022 года. С моей точки зрения, это очень заметно.
Но начинает автор с истории своей ранней юности, когда он, будучи американским волонтёром, проработал некоторое время на востоке Украины, работая учителем английского языка (самая лучшая часть книги). Мне понравилось, как автор описал восточную Украину, людей там и дух той местности. В принципе, это мог быть и российский какой-нибудь отдалённый город. Сквозь текст сквозит одна и та же идея, которая объединяет Россию, Украину и Белоруссию – разруха. Не в плане зданий, транспортных коммуникаций, а ментально. Описание, данное автором, достаточно обширное, но и специфическое, ибо автор не путешествует по всей восточной Украине, а сосредотачивается лишь на нескольких городах.
Далее идёт главная тема – события 2014 в Украине. Те читатели, которые следили за этими событиями или читали о них в других книгах, вряд ли найдут здесь что-то особо примечательное и более того, текст получился у автора не глубоким. К сожалению, в своей журналистской работе автор опирается на эффект шока, описывая во всех деталях мёртвых людей, погибших от пуль или при ударе снаряда. С этой точки зрения, автор этой книги выделяется больше всего, ибо именно ему так присуще чуть ли не смакование всех эти кровавые подробностей, начиная с Донбасса и сбитого гражданского самолёта в небе над Донбассом и заканчивая Бучей в 2022 году. Мне такое поведение кажется странным и неуместным, ибо как будто для автора, это компьютерная игра, а не реальная жизнь. Я отчётливо вижу в этом преднамеренное действие, а не обязанность журналиста осветить все детали произошедшего. Я прочитал и прослушал много различных отчётов о событиях в Украине, начиная с 2014 года и по сегодняшней день и могу сказать, что такой подход не является общепринятым. Да, в своих обзорах ситуации 2014 года автор предлагает читателю и точку зрения солдат воюющих за официальное правительство Украины и точку зрения сепаратистов. Как и в книге «The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past», сепаратисты, это люди особого склада ума, т.е. маргиналы, деклассированные элементы, которые каким-то образом получили сначала оружие, а потом и власть, точнее, стали находится при власти, а сама власть находится в руках ставленников Москвы. Тем не менее, описание события 2014 года на Донбассе дано максимально правдоподобно. Про события связанное со сбитым самолётом, сказать автору особо нечего и поэтому он решил шокировать читателя описанием с места происшествия, если так можно сказать.
События на Евромайдане описаны также достаточно детально и даже присутствуют диалоги с представителями противоположной стороны. Это интересно, так как до этого момента я читал лишь о событии на Майдане в 2014 лишь с точки зрения одной стороны – самих протестующих. Однако, увы, понять противоположную сторону, т.е. сторону Януковича из книги невозможно. Всё что автор пишет, умещается в одну фразу – посмотрите на этот изрешечённый пулями щит, которым были вооружены силовики, которые пытались разогнать протестующих (на Майдане в 2014 году). Так что книга явно не подходит в качестве ресурса, который бы позволил нарисовать полную картину тех событий на Майдане. Несмотря на то, что автор посещает что-то типа штаб квартиры Правого Сектора, описание данное автором людей из радикальных группировок не позволяет сформировать картину произошедшего и их роли в этом конфликте. У меня возникло ощущение какой-то каши, хаотичных действий. С моей точки зрения, автор превратился из журналиста в участника, точнее он стал находиться в состоянии участника, а не человека смотрящего со стороны. Ведь чтобы быть участником, а не наблюдателем, вовсе не обязательно брать в руки коктейль Молотова. Мог ли вообще любой журналист на его месте описать ситуацию по-другому? Думаю да, но для этого нужно было быть за пределами событий, а не внутри него, как это произошло с автором. Это не значит, что его описание случившегося является ошибочным, просто это картину я видел уже много раз, и поэтому мне хотелось нечто большего для понимания действий каждого участника этого события.
Пожалуй, главный недостаток книги заключается в том, что автор не анализирует события. Если пытаться делать выводы о событиях 2014 и 2022, станет не понятно, как и почему произошло вторжение РФ в 2022 году. Из книги совершенно это не понятно. Это не понятно даже когда читаешь о событиях 2014 года. Другими словами, автор не объясняет, почему Россия так отреагировала на события 2014 года и почему вообще всё это случилось. Сначала читатель узнает, как люди живут на востоке Украины, пока автор там жил и работал в качестве волонтёра, а потом внезапно начинается война на Донбассе. Почему? Зачем? Кто виноват? Что случилось? Книга не даёт ответы на эти вопросы. Книга просто ставит читателя перед фактом, что Россия по неизвестной причине так остро отреагировала на Евромайдан. Недавно в Казахстане случилось нечто подобное, но военного конфликта между Россией и Казахстаном за этим не последовало. А в Украине последовало. Почему? Из книги это не понятно. То же самое касается и событий 2022 года. Почему случилось полномасштабное вторжение? Автор ничего не говорит, хотя все прекрасно знают о существовании Минских договорённостей. Автор обходит их стороной. Возможно, это не является задачей автора, ибо книга просто описывает то, что непосредственно видел автор.
Если рассматривать книгу исключительно как описание событий, свидетелем которых и был автор, то книга неплохая, но только первые 70%. Как я написал в самом начале, у меня возникло ощущение, что последняя часть книги, была дописана автором в спешке. Да, автор описывает, как он пережил первые дни вторжения вместе со своими коллегами, живя где-то в Киеве, но описание получилось незапоминающимся и очень коротким. Всё же ожидаешь, нечто большего от журналиста, нежели короткое эссе как они жили в те дни. В последней части книги собраны интервью с военными, гражданскими, но все они какие-то обрывистые, данные как будто на ходу. Возможно, оно так и было, вот только не понятно, зачем это нужно было включать в книгу. Чтобы качественно описать ситуацию даже первых месяцев после начала вторжения понадобится отдельная книга и понадобится умение видеть картину целиком. У автора получилось так, что я как будто смотрел 5-8 минутные ролики с YouTube канала DW. Отдельно отмечу тему, связанную с Бучей, Ирпенём. Тут автор опять впадает в излишнее увлечение кровавыми деталями. И опять же, автор не даёт ответов на вопросы «зачем» и «почему». Конечно, невозможно сегодня взять интервью у противоположной стороны, как невозможно добиться всей правды, которая станет известна, только когда боевые действия закончатся или когда конфликт будет заморожен. Возможно, поэтому единственное, что автор мог сделать, это написать всё то же самое что мы знаем из новостных сводок CNN и DW. Короче говоря, глава о российском вторжении 2022 года явно лишняя. Она бы была бы не лишней, если бы автор описал собственный опыт и те события, свидетелем которых он стал.
This book is a collection of reporter articles. These articles/stories may be big, but they are still reporter's articles. My point is that the style of the book clearly shows that the author is a journalist. If we consider the book as a journalistic work, most of the book (70%) is not badly written, i.e., the author shows both sides of the conflict. It should be emphasized that the very first 70% of the book is devoted to the military conflict in Donbas in 2014, as well as the events that happened in Maidan in 2014. The remaining 30% of the book is a description of the current situation in Ukraine. If the first part of the book (2014) is described professionally, then the description of the events of 2022 is already strikingly different, because instead of reviewing the two sides of the conflict, the author simply retells the Ukrainian version of what is happening. Since I have heard the Ukrainian version 100 times because it was present on the YouTube channels to which I subscribe (DW, FRANCE 24 English, ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, Sky News Australia), it was not very interesting for me to read the same thing 101 times. There is a feeling that the book was originally dedicated to the author's volunteer activities before 2014, the events of 2014 on Maidan, in Crimea, and in Donbas of the same year. Perhaps the book was planned to be released in 2022 about the events of 2014, but here comes the full-scale invasion of Russia, and the author quickly completes a large chapter about this very invasion in 2022. From my point of view, this is very noticeable.
But the author starts with the story of his early youth, when he, as an American volunteer, spent some time in eastern Ukraine working as an English teacher (the best part of the book). I liked how the author described eastern Ukraine, the people there, and the spirit of that area. In principle, it could have been a Russian remote town. The same idea that unites Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus - devastation - runs through the text. Not in terms of buildings, transportation communications, but mentally. The description given by the author is quite extensive, but it is also specific because the author does not travel all over eastern Ukraine but focuses on only a few cities.
Then comes the main topic - the events of 2014 in Ukraine. Those readers who have followed these events or read about them in other books are unlikely to find anything particularly noteworthy here, and moreover, the author's text is not deep. Unfortunately, in his journalistic work, the author relies on the effect of shock, describing in great detail dead people killed by bullets or shell impact. From this point of view, the author of this book stands out the most, because it is he who is so characteristic of almost savoring all these bloody details, starting with Donbas and shooting down a civilian plane in the sky above Donbas and ending with Bucha in 2022. I find this behavior strange and inappropriate, as if for the author, this is a computer game, not real life. I see this as a deliberate act, not a journalist's duty to cover all the details of what happened. I have read and listened to many different reports on the events in Ukraine starting from 2014 to the present day, and I can say that this approach is not generally accepted. Yes, in his reviews of the situation in 2014, the author offers the reader both the point of view of the soldiers fighting for the official government of Ukraine and the point of view of the separatists. As in the book "The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past", separatists are people of a special kind of mind, i.e., marginalized, declassified elements who somehow got first weapons and then power, or rather, became attached to power, while the power itself is in the hands of Moscow's proxies. Nevertheless, the description of the 2014 event in Donbas is given as plausible as possible. The author has nothing much to say about the events related to the downed airplane, so he decided to shock the reader with a description of the scene of the incident, if I may say so.
The events at Euromaidan are also described in great detail, and there are even dialogues with representatives of the opposite side. This is interesting because up to this point, I had only read about the events on the Maidan in 2014 from the point of view of one side - the protesters themselves. However, alas, it is impossible to understand the other side, i.e., Yanukovych's side, from the book. Everything the author writes fits into one phrase - look at this bullet-riddled shield, which was used by the security forces who tried to disperse the protesters (on Maidan in 2014). So, the book is clearly not suitable as a resource to paint a full picture of those events on Maidan. Despite the fact that the author visits something like the headquarters of the Right Sector, the author's description of people from radical groups does not allow to form a picture of what happened and their role in this conflict. I got a feeling of some kind of mush, chaotic actions. From my point of view, the author has turned from a journalist into a participant, or rather, he has become a participant rather than a person watching from the sidelines. It is not necessary to take a Molotov cocktail in your hands to be a participant, not an observer. Could any journalist in his place have described the situation differently? I think so, but you had to be outside the events to do it, not inside it, as happened to the author. This does not mean that his description of what happened is wrong, it's just that I have seen this picture many times, and therefore, I wanted something more to understand the actions of each participant in this event.
Perhaps the main drawback of the book is that the author does not analyze the events. If we try to draw conclusions about the events of 2014 and 2022, it will not be clear how and why the invasion of the Russian Federation in 2022 occurred. It is not clear from the book at all. It is not clear even when reading about the events of 2014. In other words, the author does not explain why Russia reacted in such a way to the events of 2014 and why it all happened in the first place. First, the reader learns how people live in eastern Ukraine while the author lived and worked there as a volunteer, and then, suddenly, the war in Donbas starts. Why? Who is to blame? What happened? The book does not provide answers to these questions. The book simply confronts the reader with the fact that Russia, for some unknown reason, reacted so strongly to Euromaidan. Something similar happened recently in Kazakhstan, but there was no military conflict between Russia and Kazakhstan. But it did in Ukraine. Why? It's not clear from the book. The same is true for the events of 2022. Why did a full-scale invasion happen? The author says nothing, although everyone knows very well about the existence of the Minsk agreements. The author bypasses them. Perhaps this is not the author's task since the book simply describes what the author has directly witnessed.
If you consider the book solely as a description of the events witnessed by the author, the book is not bad, but only the first 70%. As I wrote in the beginning, I have the feeling that the last part of the book was finished by the author in a hurry. Yes, the author describes how he survived the first days of the invasion with his colleagues, living somewhere in Kyiv, but the description turned out to be unmemorable and very short. Still, one expects something more from a journalist than a short essay on how they lived in those days. The last part of the book contains interviews with military and civilians, but they are all kind of abrupt as if they were given on the fly. Perhaps it was so, but it is not clear why it was necessary to include it in the book. To qualitatively describe the situation of even the first months after the beginning of the invasion would require a separate book and the ability to see the whole picture. The author made it look like I was watching 5-8-minute clips from DW's YouTube channel. Separately, I would like to note the topic related to Bucha, Irpen. Here, the author again falls into an excessive fascination with gory details. And again, the author does not give an answer to the question "why". Of course, it is impossible to interview the opposing side today, just as it is impossible to get the whole truth, which will only become known when the fighting is over or when the conflict is frozen. Perhaps that's why the only thing the author could do was to write all the same things we know from CNN and DW news reports. In short, the chapter on the Russian invasion of 2022 is redundant. It would not have been redundant if the author had described his own experience and the events he witnessed.
Когда одряхлевшей старухе покажется ядом живая слеза
Я знаю, прорвавшись сквозь синее небо, над городом грянет гроза
Я знаю, что будет война, потускнеют умы, разобьются сердца
И девочка с пулей во лбу будет звонко смеяться над трупом отца
По существу эта книга является сборником репортёрских статей. Пусть эти статьи/истории большие, но всё же это репортёрские статьи. Я хочу сказать, что стиль книги отчётливо показывает, что автор является журналистом. Если рассматривать книгу именно как журналистскую работу, то большая часть книги (70%) написана не плохо, т.е. автор показывает обе стороны конфликта. Тут нужно подчеркнуть, что эти самые первые 70% книги посвящены военному конфликту на Донбассе 2014 года, а также событиям, случившимся на Майдане в 2014. Остальные 30% книги, это уже описание текущей ситуации в Украине. Если первая часть книги (2014) описана профессионально, то описание событий 2022 года уже разительно отличаются, ибо вместо обзора двух сторон конфликта, автор просто пересказывает украинскую версию происходящего. Так как украинскую версию я слышал раз 100, ибо она присутствовала на YouTube каналах, на которые я подписан (DW, FRANCE 24 English, ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, Sky News Australia), то читать 101 раз одно и то же, мне было не очень интересно. Возникает ощущение, что изначально книга была посвящена волонтёрской деятельности автора до 2014 года, событиям 2014 на Майдане, в Крыму и на Донбассе того же года. Возможно, книга планировалась быть выпущенной в 2022 году о событиях 2014, но вот случается полномасштабное вторжение России и автор быстро дописывает большую главу об этом самом вторжении 2022 года. С моей точки зрения, это очень заметно.
Но начинает автор с истории своей ранней юности, когда он, будучи американским волонтёром, проработал некоторое время на востоке Украины, работая учителем английского языка (самая лучшая часть книги). Мне понравилось, как автор описал восточную Украину, людей там и дух той местности. В принципе, это мог быть и российский какой-нибудь отдалённый город. Сквозь текст сквозит одна и та же идея, которая объединяет Россию, Украину и Белоруссию – разруха. Не в плане зданий, транспортных коммуникаций, а ментально. Описание, данное автором, достаточно обширное, но и специфическое, ибо автор не путешествует по всей восточной Украине, а сосредотачивается лишь на нескольких городах.
Далее идёт главная тема – события 2014 в Украине. Те читатели, которые следили за этими событиями или читали о них в других книгах, вряд ли найдут здесь что-то особо примечательное и более того, текст получился у автора не глубоким. К сожалению, в своей журналистской работе автор опирается на эффект шока, описывая во всех деталях мёртвых людей, погибших от пуль или при ударе снаряда. С этой точки зрения, автор этой книги выделяется больше всего, ибо именно ему так присуще чуть ли не смакование всех эти кровавые подробностей, начиная с Донбасса и сбитого гражданского самолёта в небе над Донбассом и заканчивая Бучей в 2022 году. Мне такое поведение кажется странным и неуместным, ибо как будто для автора, это компьютерная игра, а не реальная жизнь. Я отчётливо вижу в этом преднамеренное действие, а не обязанность журналиста осветить все детали произошедшего. Я прочитал и прослушал много различных отчётов о событиях в Украине, начиная с 2014 года и по сегодняшней день и могу сказать, что такой подход не является общепринятым. Да, в своих обзорах ситуации 2014 года автор предлагает читателю и точку зрения солдат воюющих за официальное правительство Украины и точку зрения сепаратистов. Как и в книге «The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past», сепаратисты, это люди особого склада ума, т.е. маргиналы, деклассированные элементы, которые каким-то образом получили сначала оружие, а потом и власть, точнее, стали находится при власти, а сама власть находится в руках ставленников Москвы. Тем не менее, описание события 2014 года на Донбассе дано максимально правдоподобно. Про события связанное со сбитым самолётом, сказать автору особо нечего и поэтому он решил шокировать читателя описанием с места происшествия, если так можно сказать.
События на Евромайдане описаны также достаточно детально и даже присутствуют диалоги с представителями противоположной стороны. Это интересно, так как до этого момента я читал лишь о событии на Майдане в 2014 лишь с точки зрения одной стороны – самих протестующих. Однако, увы, понять противоположную сторону, т.е. сторону Януковича из книги невозможно. Всё что автор пишет, умещается в одну фразу – посмотрите на этот изрешечённый пулями щит, которым были вооружены силовики, которые пытались разогнать протестующих (на Майдане в 2014 году). Так что книга явно не подходит в качестве ресурса, который бы позволил нарисовать полную картину тех событий на Майдане. Несмотря на то, что автор посещает что-то типа штаб квартиры Правого Сектора, описание данное автором людей из радикальных группировок не позволяет сформировать картину произошедшего и их роли в этом конфликте. У меня возникло ощущение какой-то каши, хаотичных действий. С моей точки зрения, автор превратился из журналиста в участника, точнее он стал находиться в состоянии участника, а не человека смотрящего со стороны. Ведь чтобы быть участником, а не наблюдателем, вовсе не обязательно брать в руки коктейль Молотова. Мог ли вообще любой журналист на его месте описать ситуацию по-другому? Думаю да, но для этого нужно было быть за пределами событий, а не внутри него, как это произошло с автором. Это не значит, что его описание случившегося является ошибочным, просто это картину я видел уже много раз, и поэтому мне хотелось нечто большего для понимания действий каждого участника этого события.
Пожалуй, главный недостаток книги заключается в том, что автор не анализирует события. Если пытаться делать выводы о событиях 2014 и 2022, станет не понятно, как и почему произошло вторжение РФ в 2022 году. Из книги совершенно это не понятно. Это не понятно даже когда читаешь о событиях 2014 года. Другими словами, автор не объясняет, почему Россия так отреагировала на события 2014 года и почему вообще всё это случилось. Сначала читатель узнает, как люди живут на востоке Украины, пока автор там жил и работал в качестве волонтёра, а потом внезапно начинается война на Донбассе. Почему? Зачем? Кто виноват? Что случилось? Книга не даёт ответы на эти вопросы. Книга просто ставит читателя перед фактом, что Россия по неизвестной причине так остро отреагировала на Евромайдан. Недавно в Казахстане случилось нечто подобное, но военного конфликта между Россией и Казахстаном за этим не последовало. А в Украине последовало. Почему? Из книги это не понятно. То же самое касается и событий 2022 года. Почему случилось полномасштабное вторжение? Автор ничего не говорит, хотя все прекрасно знают о существовании Минских договорённостей. Автор обходит их стороной. Возможно, это не является задачей автора, ибо книга просто описывает то, что непосредственно видел автор.
Если рассматривать книгу исключительно как описание событий, свидетелем которых и был автор, то книга неплохая, но только первые 70%. Как я написал в самом начале, у меня возникло ощущение, что последняя часть книги, была дописана автором в спешке. Да, автор описывает, как он пережил первые дни вторжения вместе со своими коллегами, живя где-то в Киеве, но описание получилось незапоминающимся и очень коротким. Всё же ожидаешь, нечто большего от журналиста, нежели короткое эссе как они жили в те дни. В последней части книги собраны интервью с военными, гражданскими, но все они какие-то обрывистые, данные как будто на ходу. Возможно, оно так и было, вот только не понятно, зачем это нужно было включать в книгу. Чтобы качественно описать ситуацию даже первых месяцев после начала вторжения понадобится отдельная книга и понадобится умение видеть картину целиком. У автора получилось так, что я как будто смотрел 5-8 минутные ролики с YouTube канала DW. Отдельно отмечу тему, связанную с Бучей, Ирпенём. Тут автор опять впадает в излишнее увлечение кровавыми деталями. И опять же, автор не даёт ответов на вопросы «зачем» и «почему». Конечно, невозможно сегодня взять интервью у противоположной стороны, как невозможно добиться всей правды, которая станет известна, только когда боевые действия закончатся или когда конфликт будет заморожен. Возможно, поэтому единственное, что автор мог сделать, это написать всё то же самое что мы знаем из новостных сводок CNN и DW. Короче говоря, глава о российском вторжении 2022 года явно лишняя. Она бы была бы не лишней, если бы автор описал собственный опыт и те события, свидетелем которых он стал.
This book is a collection of reporter articles. These articles/stories may be big, but they are still reporter's articles. My point is that the style of the book clearly shows that the author is a journalist. If we consider the book as a journalistic work, most of the book (70%) is not badly written, i.e., the author shows both sides of the conflict. It should be emphasized that the very first 70% of the book is devoted to the military conflict in Donbas in 2014, as well as the events that happened in Maidan in 2014. The remaining 30% of the book is a description of the current situation in Ukraine. If the first part of the book (2014) is described professionally, then the description of the events of 2022 is already strikingly different, because instead of reviewing the two sides of the conflict, the author simply retells the Ukrainian version of what is happening. Since I have heard the Ukrainian version 100 times because it was present on the YouTube channels to which I subscribe (DW, FRANCE 24 English, ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, Sky News Australia), it was not very interesting for me to read the same thing 101 times. There is a feeling that the book was originally dedicated to the author's volunteer activities before 2014, the events of 2014 on Maidan, in Crimea, and in Donbas of the same year. Perhaps the book was planned to be released in 2022 about the events of 2014, but here comes the full-scale invasion of Russia, and the author quickly completes a large chapter about this very invasion in 2022. From my point of view, this is very noticeable.
But the author starts with the story of his early youth, when he, as an American volunteer, spent some time in eastern Ukraine working as an English teacher (the best part of the book). I liked how the author described eastern Ukraine, the people there, and the spirit of that area. In principle, it could have been a Russian remote town. The same idea that unites Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus - devastation - runs through the text. Not in terms of buildings, transportation communications, but mentally. The description given by the author is quite extensive, but it is also specific because the author does not travel all over eastern Ukraine but focuses on only a few cities.
Then comes the main topic - the events of 2014 in Ukraine. Those readers who have followed these events or read about them in other books are unlikely to find anything particularly noteworthy here, and moreover, the author's text is not deep. Unfortunately, in his journalistic work, the author relies on the effect of shock, describing in great detail dead people killed by bullets or shell impact. From this point of view, the author of this book stands out the most, because it is he who is so characteristic of almost savoring all these bloody details, starting with Donbas and shooting down a civilian plane in the sky above Donbas and ending with Bucha in 2022. I find this behavior strange and inappropriate, as if for the author, this is a computer game, not real life. I see this as a deliberate act, not a journalist's duty to cover all the details of what happened. I have read and listened to many different reports on the events in Ukraine starting from 2014 to the present day, and I can say that this approach is not generally accepted. Yes, in his reviews of the situation in 2014, the author offers the reader both the point of view of the soldiers fighting for the official government of Ukraine and the point of view of the separatists. As in the book "The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past", separatists are people of a special kind of mind, i.e., marginalized, declassified elements who somehow got first weapons and then power, or rather, became attached to power, while the power itself is in the hands of Moscow's proxies. Nevertheless, the description of the 2014 event in Donbas is given as plausible as possible. The author has nothing much to say about the events related to the downed airplane, so he decided to shock the reader with a description of the scene of the incident, if I may say so.
The events at Euromaidan are also described in great detail, and there are even dialogues with representatives of the opposite side. This is interesting because up to this point, I had only read about the events on the Maidan in 2014 from the point of view of one side - the protesters themselves. However, alas, it is impossible to understand the other side, i.e., Yanukovych's side, from the book. Everything the author writes fits into one phrase - look at this bullet-riddled shield, which was used by the security forces who tried to disperse the protesters (on Maidan in 2014). So, the book is clearly not suitable as a resource to paint a full picture of those events on Maidan. Despite the fact that the author visits something like the headquarters of the Right Sector, the author's description of people from radical groups does not allow to form a picture of what happened and their role in this conflict. I got a feeling of some kind of mush, chaotic actions. From my point of view, the author has turned from a journalist into a participant, or rather, he has become a participant rather than a person watching from the sidelines. It is not necessary to take a Molotov cocktail in your hands to be a participant, not an observer. Could any journalist in his place have described the situation differently? I think so, but you had to be outside the events to do it, not inside it, as happened to the author. This does not mean that his description of what happened is wrong, it's just that I have seen this picture many times, and therefore, I wanted something more to understand the actions of each participant in this event.
Perhaps the main drawback of the book is that the author does not analyze the events. If we try to draw conclusions about the events of 2014 and 2022, it will not be clear how and why the invasion of the Russian Federation in 2022 occurred. It is not clear from the book at all. It is not clear even when reading about the events of 2014. In other words, the author does not explain why Russia reacted in such a way to the events of 2014 and why it all happened in the first place. First, the reader learns how people live in eastern Ukraine while the author lived and worked there as a volunteer, and then, suddenly, the war in Donbas starts. Why? Who is to blame? What happened? The book does not provide answers to these questions. The book simply confronts the reader with the fact that Russia, for some unknown reason, reacted so strongly to Euromaidan. Something similar happened recently in Kazakhstan, but there was no military conflict between Russia and Kazakhstan. But it did in Ukraine. Why? It's not clear from the book. The same is true for the events of 2022. Why did a full-scale invasion happen? The author says nothing, although everyone knows very well about the existence of the Minsk agreements. The author bypasses them. Perhaps this is not the author's task since the book simply describes what the author has directly witnessed.
If you consider the book solely as a description of the events witnessed by the author, the book is not bad, but only the first 70%. As I wrote in the beginning, I have the feeling that the last part of the book was finished by the author in a hurry. Yes, the author describes how he survived the first days of the invasion with his colleagues, living somewhere in Kyiv, but the description turned out to be unmemorable and very short. Still, one expects something more from a journalist than a short essay on how they lived in those days. The last part of the book contains interviews with military and civilians, but they are all kind of abrupt as if they were given on the fly. Perhaps it was so, but it is not clear why it was necessary to include it in the book. To qualitatively describe the situation of even the first months after the beginning of the invasion would require a separate book and the ability to see the whole picture. The author made it look like I was watching 5-8-minute clips from DW's YouTube channel. Separately, I would like to note the topic related to Bucha, Irpen. Here, the author again falls into an excessive fascination with gory details. And again, the author does not give an answer to the question "why". Of course, it is impossible to interview the opposing side today, just as it is impossible to get the whole truth, which will only become known when the fighting is over or when the conflict is frozen. Perhaps that's why the only thing the author could do was to write all the same things we know from CNN and DW news reports. In short, the chapter on the Russian invasion of 2022 is redundant. It would not have been redundant if the author had described his own experience and the events he witnessed.
July 6, 2023
Christopher Miller first went to Ukraine as a Peace Corp volunteer in 2010, when he worked as a schoolteacher in Artemivsk (now called Bakhmut). Over his time there he slowly fell in love with the place. He has spent the bulk of his working career ever since in Ukraine. After leaving the Peace Corp he found work in Ukraine as a reporter and watched and reported as history unfolded around him.
At the time he joined the Peace Corp Miller had “decided to get lost for a while”. He had been working in Portland, Oregon as a local reporter. But news reporting was undergoing big changes in the US, and finding work was getting harder to do. While he was in Ukraine teaching with the Peace Corp the reporting bug never left him. He began to spend some of his non-teaching time with a group of Ukrainian investigative reporters.
After leaving the Peace Corp he got a job with the Kyiv Post, the first of many in-country reporting assignments. He has filed reports as a stringer for the New York Times, Washington Post, the Independent and other news organizations. For a while he was part of the staff reporting from Ukraine for Buzzfeed News. Now he works for the Financial Times.
Miller’s new book The War Came to Us , is both the story of his time in Ukraine, and an on the ground reporting of the events that have shaped Ukraine over the last decade. Miller was there, reporting from the Euromaidan in 2014 when the Ukranian revolution removed the corrupt Viktor Yanukovych from power. He was there when the “little green men” invaded and took over Crimea and much of the Donbas. He has been there for many of the major events that have made headline news around the world and continues reporting from Ukraine right up to today.
Miller’s love for the country and its people comes through clearly in this book. There are plenty of places you can go if you want to read about military strategies or political histories surrounding the relationship between Russia and Ukraine that have led to the current war. That is not what you get with this book.
Miller shows us lots of little moments that help to convey why he feels the way he does. Starting with his time in the country before the war, right up to and through the Russian invasion, his focus in relating stories to us is almost always on ordinary people - how events are impacting them, and how they are impacting events. It’s through their stories that you come to understand what’s going on in Ukraine and why it means so much.
If you are looking for an authoritative overview of the conflict in Ukraine, you could not ask for a better book. I highly recommend this one.
RATING: Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
NOTE: I read an advanced review copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury USA. The book will be released to the public on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
At the time he joined the Peace Corp Miller had “decided to get lost for a while”. He had been working in Portland, Oregon as a local reporter. But news reporting was undergoing big changes in the US, and finding work was getting harder to do. While he was in Ukraine teaching with the Peace Corp the reporting bug never left him. He began to spend some of his non-teaching time with a group of Ukrainian investigative reporters.
After leaving the Peace Corp he got a job with the Kyiv Post, the first of many in-country reporting assignments. He has filed reports as a stringer for the New York Times, Washington Post, the Independent and other news organizations. For a while he was part of the staff reporting from Ukraine for Buzzfeed News. Now he works for the Financial Times.
Miller’s new book The War Came to Us , is both the story of his time in Ukraine, and an on the ground reporting of the events that have shaped Ukraine over the last decade. Miller was there, reporting from the Euromaidan in 2014 when the Ukranian revolution removed the corrupt Viktor Yanukovych from power. He was there when the “little green men” invaded and took over Crimea and much of the Donbas. He has been there for many of the major events that have made headline news around the world and continues reporting from Ukraine right up to today.
Miller’s love for the country and its people comes through clearly in this book. There are plenty of places you can go if you want to read about military strategies or political histories surrounding the relationship between Russia and Ukraine that have led to the current war. That is not what you get with this book.
Miller shows us lots of little moments that help to convey why he feels the way he does. Starting with his time in the country before the war, right up to and through the Russian invasion, his focus in relating stories to us is almost always on ordinary people - how events are impacting them, and how they are impacting events. It’s through their stories that you come to understand what’s going on in Ukraine and why it means so much.
If you are looking for an authoritative overview of the conflict in Ukraine, you could not ask for a better book. I highly recommend this one.
RATING: Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
NOTE: I read an advanced review copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher Bloomsbury USA. The book will be released to the public on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
August 7, 2023
This book is amazing.
I have been following the war in Ukraine quite closely so I was interested to read this book. What is fascinating is that it doesn't start when you think it would. Following Christopher Miller's time in Ukraine, it begins with his Peace Corps work and moves on to the annexation of the Crimea and flows into the situation in the Donbas region in 2014. From there we jump to February 2022 when the war as we know it started.
I love the human stories in this book - it is easy to forget that there are real people involved in this war. We meet ordinary Ukrainian citizens and often touch base with them multiple times or get a follow up line about their particular fate. There is lots of details about the areas of Ukraine that Christopher lived and it is truly heartbreaking how he describes what these areas look like now and at various periods when he revisits the areas. We learn about the close calls that he and other journalists had and also about the jobs that don't get covered in the media - the front line medics, the surgeons, the body collectors, the morticians...all in heart rending detail.
This is a fabulous and at times harrowing read but highly recommended!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have been following the war in Ukraine quite closely so I was interested to read this book. What is fascinating is that it doesn't start when you think it would. Following Christopher Miller's time in Ukraine, it begins with his Peace Corps work and moves on to the annexation of the Crimea and flows into the situation in the Donbas region in 2014. From there we jump to February 2022 when the war as we know it started.
I love the human stories in this book - it is easy to forget that there are real people involved in this war. We meet ordinary Ukrainian citizens and often touch base with them multiple times or get a follow up line about their particular fate. There is lots of details about the areas of Ukraine that Christopher lived and it is truly heartbreaking how he describes what these areas look like now and at various periods when he revisits the areas. We learn about the close calls that he and other journalists had and also about the jobs that don't get covered in the media - the front line medics, the surgeons, the body collectors, the morticians...all in heart rending detail.
This is a fabulous and at times harrowing read but highly recommended!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 2, 2024
This is poignant and gripping storytelling that skilfully captures the essence of human struggle and resilience in the face of conflict. The book takes readers on a harrowing journey through the lives of characters thrust into the chaos of war, exploring the profound impact it has on their individual stories and collective fates.
Miller has spent much time in Ukraine long before the war and whether describing war-torn landscapes, the camaraderie among soldiers, or the quiet moments of reflection amid chaos, his prose paints a vivid picture that immerses readers in the world of the story. The attention to detail not only enhances the storytelling but also serves to underscore the harsh realities faced by those caught in the throes of conflict.
While the novel remains powerful, it deliberately refrains from sensationalism, encouraging readers to reflect on broader societal issues and the consequences of war. It prompts contemplation on the nature of conflict, the importance of empathy in understanding different perspectives, and the enduring nature of hope even in the darkest times.
Miller has spent much time in Ukraine long before the war and whether describing war-torn landscapes, the camaraderie among soldiers, or the quiet moments of reflection amid chaos, his prose paints a vivid picture that immerses readers in the world of the story. The attention to detail not only enhances the storytelling but also serves to underscore the harsh realities faced by those caught in the throes of conflict.
While the novel remains powerful, it deliberately refrains from sensationalism, encouraging readers to reflect on broader societal issues and the consequences of war. It prompts contemplation on the nature of conflict, the importance of empathy in understanding different perspectives, and the enduring nature of hope even in the darkest times.
August 27, 2023
In the U.S., here in California half a world away, and with a lifetime of “us-versus-them” animosity, it is easy to simplify the situation in the Ukraine as “go Ukraine, beat the Commies.” While I believe history written here will anoint that view and I largely agree in general terms, this intense book by Christopher Miller makes the tragic war between Ukraine and Putin’s Russia very, very real and foreseeable.
And sadly, it also foreshadows a lot of “we-they,” “red state-blue state” anger in our own country. Tyrants exist everywhere and take many forms, it seems.
If you’re one who follows foreign affairs, and perhaps domestic anger, this thought-provoking bit of modern history is an important read, hard to put down.
And sadly, it also foreshadows a lot of “we-they,” “red state-blue state” anger in our own country. Tyrants exist everywhere and take many forms, it seems.
If you’re one who follows foreign affairs, and perhaps domestic anger, this thought-provoking bit of modern history is an important read, hard to put down.
March 21, 2024
This book provides an incredible look at Ukraine from the ground level both before and during Russia's invasion in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of 2022. Miller gives us a learners perspective as he first encounters (and falls in love with) Ukraine as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Donbas, revealing many real life, salt-of-the-Earth characters that inhabit the rural corners of that country and make it function. Miller's personal story is well paced and benefits from his years of experience as a journalist to educate us on how Ukraine looks, feels, and works at the lowest level.
This melding of personal stories and national news is at its best when it covers the Maiden Revolution and subsequent Russian occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas. Miller, who is a journalist with Kyiv Post at this point and in a time of great danger to that profession due to corrupt officials and their thugs, was physically present for all of the major events of Ukraine's transformational year of 2014 and covers them in vivid detail. This is especially true of the downing of MH17 by a Russian anti-air missile. I was absolutely gripped during this portion and had several very late nights of reading to pay for it!
The last section of the book is, of course, about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In my opinion, this is the weakest portion of the book. It may be that I, like many of Miller's fans who picked up this book, have been very closely watching Ukraine and the war that has unfolded in front of our eyes, but the tight narrative of the first two portions of the book gives way here to many small dispatches, little stories that are loosely woven together that try to represent a wide ranging, chaotic war, but are not able to capture the gripping nature of the earlier portions of the book. Still, Miller is a fine writer, and his dispatches range from meetings with soldiers on frontline to accompanying aid and rescue workers bringing the civilian victims out of the rubble.
Anyone who is interested in war reporting, the Ukraine War, or just Ukraine in general will really enjoy this book and I highly recommend it. The only gripes I have with it are that the standard was set so high from the beginning of the book that is somewhat let down by the not-quite-as-gripping final chapters, which is not much of a real gripe to be honest. Miller is still actively covering the war and Ukraine, so this will serve as a great primer for anyone interested in those topics or Miller's work.
This melding of personal stories and national news is at its best when it covers the Maiden Revolution and subsequent Russian occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas. Miller, who is a journalist with Kyiv Post at this point and in a time of great danger to that profession due to corrupt officials and their thugs, was physically present for all of the major events of Ukraine's transformational year of 2014 and covers them in vivid detail. This is especially true of the downing of MH17 by a Russian anti-air missile. I was absolutely gripped during this portion and had several very late nights of reading to pay for it!
The last section of the book is, of course, about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In my opinion, this is the weakest portion of the book. It may be that I, like many of Miller's fans who picked up this book, have been very closely watching Ukraine and the war that has unfolded in front of our eyes, but the tight narrative of the first two portions of the book gives way here to many small dispatches, little stories that are loosely woven together that try to represent a wide ranging, chaotic war, but are not able to capture the gripping nature of the earlier portions of the book. Still, Miller is a fine writer, and his dispatches range from meetings with soldiers on frontline to accompanying aid and rescue workers bringing the civilian victims out of the rubble.
Anyone who is interested in war reporting, the Ukraine War, or just Ukraine in general will really enjoy this book and I highly recommend it. The only gripes I have with it are that the standard was set so high from the beginning of the book that is somewhat let down by the not-quite-as-gripping final chapters, which is not much of a real gripe to be honest. Miller is still actively covering the war and Ukraine, so this will serve as a great primer for anyone interested in those topics or Miller's work.
October 8, 2024
The Russo-Ukranian War has been raging since February 2022. As this war continues, Financial Times War Correspondent Christopher Miller has become an expert on the history and what may happen next. For those who want to know more about the leadup and implications of this war.
Christopher joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Donetsk, Ukraine. Past the beautiful parts of the country, he goes to a broken-down factory town. It's a sort of rust belt of Eastern Ukraine. However, it proves to be an extremely valuable placement when he returns as a reporter for Kyiv Post. When the Russian puppet president is ousted, Russia takes Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
As tensions mount in 2022, Russia invades again. Miller was there before and during the war to give context to what was happening. We see the start of the Euromaidan Revolution and how Ukraine was caught flat-footed immediately after the ousting of the president. As the war churns on, it ]seems there are no easy answers to the horrors of this war.
Christopher joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Donetsk, Ukraine. Past the beautiful parts of the country, he goes to a broken-down factory town. It's a sort of rust belt of Eastern Ukraine. However, it proves to be an extremely valuable placement when he returns as a reporter for Kyiv Post. When the Russian puppet president is ousted, Russia takes Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
As tensions mount in 2022, Russia invades again. Miller was there before and during the war to give context to what was happening. We see the start of the Euromaidan Revolution and how Ukraine was caught flat-footed immediately after the ousting of the president. As the war churns on, it ]seems there are no easy answers to the horrors of this war.
July 15, 2023
This book did something to me, and I'm still working through it. I simply could not put it down. It starts with a summary of the history of Ukraine, which helps put everything that comes after in its proper context. The author takes you along on an exhilarating and terrifying ride, and you're right next to him, experiencing what he's experiencing, both the joys and the horrors of his life in Ukraine. I learned so much about Ukraine and about this war (and previous conflicts), and I was constantly impressed by the author's bravery, dedication, and displays of humanity. I am grateful to have been given the chance to experience this book before its release, so thank you, NetGalley! And thank you, Christopher Miller, for this gem of a book. It's a true gift to the world.
August 6, 2023
I didn't want to read this book but I felt I had to. I wanted to try and understand what is happening in Ukraine.
The book was full of information and included some history.
I wish I hadn't had to read it but I am glad I did. I feel I understand more and can look at the conflict more objectively. I am not sure how you could make this book easy reading without leaving out important facts. The book needed to be read in bursts and I always had something else to turn to. This I know is my problem, I have always used reading as an escapism and this is not really where I wanted to escape to.
It is an inspiring book told through personal experience. of an American journalist and his love for a country.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants answers to what is happening in Ukraine?
The book was full of information and included some history.
I wish I hadn't had to read it but I am glad I did. I feel I understand more and can look at the conflict more objectively. I am not sure how you could make this book easy reading without leaving out important facts. The book needed to be read in bursts and I always had something else to turn to. This I know is my problem, I have always used reading as an escapism and this is not really where I wanted to escape to.
It is an inspiring book told through personal experience. of an American journalist and his love for a country.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants answers to what is happening in Ukraine?
June 8, 2024
Tough topic
The book is very informative, starting prior to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Reading about war is never easy and this book is no exception. I like that the author includes personal stories of those he interviewed. It’s tough to keep track of the various names, and he jumps around on the dates which made it harder for me to keep it all straight. But I’m glad I read it.
The book is very informative, starting prior to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Reading about war is never easy and this book is no exception. I like that the author includes personal stories of those he interviewed. It’s tough to keep track of the various names, and he jumps around on the dates which made it harder for me to keep it all straight. But I’m glad I read it.
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