"The Inside Story of Life and Death in Ukraine"
Somewhat randomly Christopher Miller found himself studying and teaching in Eastern Ukraine even before Russia illegally invaded Crimea in 2014. Later as a journalist working for the Kyiv Post he’s in the thick of it - firstly in Kyiv for the uprising, next Crimea and then later the Eastern oblasts where a horrible war rumbles away, only really to grab the full attention of the West on 24th February 2022 when Putin launched a full scale invasion. Over the course of more than a decade Miller seems to have hardly left the country, right up until as recently as December when he returned to Bakhmut at the height of a raging battle between Ukrainian forces and a mostly Wagnerian enemy.
Miller is a brilliant and brave journalist who writes compassionately about the people he meets, and he meets a lot of people. He consistently heads into the heart of the action, finding the characters who will share their stories which are at the centre of a bigger picture. I lost count of how many times he found himself at a checkpoint with a gun in his face using either Russian or Ukrainian to talk his way through. And he has seen a lot of death. Some of it up close - there are a number of occasions where he can count himself lucky to be alive. Needless to say there are horrors within these pages, but Miller never dramatises nor glorifies. Quite the opposite.
In a war of propaganda, lies and betrayals, The War Came To Us offers both context and truth. The early chapters of the book where life is relatively normal, draw you in to the culture of Ukraine and provide an opportunity to sense what peace felt like at a time when the country was progressing away from corruption and towards democracy. It was a time of hope. This hope of course shatters, and when it does Christopher Miller is there to search through the pieces. This is great journalism from a man who knows Ukraine intimately and isn’t afraid to report the reality of what is happening in a country he clearly loves. Riveting, informative and heartbreaking.
Primary Genre | History |
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