Serhii Rudenko tr. Michael M. Naydan and Alla Perminova
MixedThe New StatesmanReading this biography now, in the wake of a war that upended our understanding of both Zelensky and Ukraine, presents his personal history in a new light ... It’s not a tidy chronology: Rudenko takes us back and forth in time, offering us Zelensky’s story as if it were a chocolate box, a morsel at a time. But this is no fairy tale ... He doesn’t take us inside Zelensky’s head; he just gives us the stories behind his presidency.
Christina Lamb
RaveThe New Statesman (UK)... should be essential reading. This retelling of some of the world’s worst wars highlights a dark seam of human history suppressed by shame, impunity and the unwillingness of so many even to listen to horrific accounts of systemic mass rape .... Rape is as old as armed conflict but Lamb’s account amounts to much more than simply \'bad things happen\'. Her conclusion is clear: rape is a systematic weapon of war; this is not about individual abuses but deliberate military policy ... This is not pitch-black history, however – lights are shone by the courage of women and girls determined to speak out and confront their abusers ... This is a hard book to read. But, once you do, you will join a growing group of people who ask: \'How is this allowed to go on?\'
