War and Punishment: The Story of Russian Oppression and Ukrainian Resistance (Paperback) - Mikhail Zygar

'A sweeping, ambitious and impassioned chronicle' ( Irish Times ) - from heroic dissident journalist Mikhail Zygar, WAR AND PUNISHMENT is a journey into the myths and fantasies that led Russia to violence in Ukraine

'History is made up of myths,' writes the renowned Russian dissident journalist Mikhail Zygar. 'Alas, our myths led us to the fascism of 2022. It is time to expose them.' Drawing from his perilous career investigating the frontiers of the Russian empire, Zygar reveals how 350 years of propaganda, bad historical scholarship, folk tales and fantasy spurred his nation into war with Ukraine.

A noted expert on the Kremlin with unparalleled access to hundreds of players in the current conflict - from politicians to oligarchs, gangsters to comedians (not least Zelensky himself) - Zygar chronicles the power struggles from which today's politics grew, and digs out the essential truths from behind layers of seductive legend. By surveying the strange, complex record of Russo-Ukrainian relations, WAR AND PUNISHMENT reveals exactly how the largest nation on Earth lost its senses. A work of history can't undo the past or transform the present, but sometimes it can shape the future.

About the Author

Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and filmmaker, and the founding editor-in-chief of Dozhd, Russia's last independent TV news channel. He is also the author of a number of books, including ALL THE KREMLIN'S MEN (2017), a critical portrait of Putin's inner circle that was a number-one bestseller in Russia. In 2014 he received the International Press Freedom Award. As soon as the invasion of Ukraine began, Zygar wrote a public condemnation that was signed by hundreds of his cultural and journalistic contacts and then by thousands of ordinary citizens. A new law criminalizing criticism of the war swiftly followed, and Zygar went into exile.