Publishers Weekly
01/08/2024
Time magazine correspondent Shuster debuts with an up-close account of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s transformation from comedian and political satirist to steadfast wartime leader and world symbol of “fortitude.” Drawing on unprecedented access to Zelensky as well as interviews with the president’s friends, advisers, ministers, staff members, and wife Olena, Shuster tracks how the celebrity actor went from “naive charmer preparing to enter a world of cynics, oligarchs and thugs who took him for an easy mark” to “stubborn, confident, vengeful, impolitic” leader of a beleaguered nation. In addition to chronicling Zelensky’s successful bid for the presidency in 2019 and his first days in office, when he “showed a painful sensitivity to criticism,” Shuster describes how the former TV star, driven by “professional” instincts from the start of the Russian invasion, made highly publicized appearances—including at South Korea’s parliament, the World Bank, and the Grammy Awards—with the goal of winning over Western leaders and securing weapons. Soon “it turned into a political rite of passage” for European heads of state to travel to Kyiv and pose for a selfie with Zelensky. The president’s critics will note Shuster downplays accusations of his subject’s “high-handedness,” though he does discuss Zelensky’s crackdowns on the Ukrainian press. This is a crisp snapshot of a national leader under fire. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"The Showman surpasses all similar efforts to date and is set to be the standard by which all other works on Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine’s wartime politics will be judged." — Wall Street Journal
"Using interviews with the Ukrainian president, his closest associates and his critics, Shuster crafts an intimate account of the Russian invasion, which vividly captures Zelensky’s transformation from a clean-cut funnyman into a war hero out of central casting." — New York Times Book Review
"[A]uthoritative and engaging . . . [Shuster] writes with clarity and immediacy about matters that could easily descend into centuries of history and reams of military strategy. The Showman has plenty of both, but always in the service of a tight narrative that deftly toggles from past to present and back again. . . . Shuster does readers the ultimate service. He makes them feel smart. . . . The Showman is first-rate long-form journalism." — San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] definitive, thoroughly researched and deeply insightful biography . . . The Showman is a far more intimate and much better informed biography than most politicians get from journalists. Shuster is an honest and frank biographer, thoroughly equipped for the job." — The Guardian
"[An] intimate biography . . . [A] brilliant piece of extended reportage." — London Times
"Fascinating. Powerful. Important. This book is an illuminating profile of Zelensky’s courage and an expert study of the fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine." — Library Journal (starred review)
"An intense, evocative portrait of one of the most remarkable figures of our era. This book offers a front row seat to history as it is being made." — Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Twilight of Democracy
"Shuster’s book is a narrative tour de force that takes us deep behind the scenes of the Ukrainian president’s bunker during the tensest days of Russia’s war against Ukraine. An astonishingly intimate portrayal of the former comedian turned wartime leader battling to save his nation—and Europe—that nevertheless keeps a doggedly honest and critical balance. This is the Zelensky book we’ve been waiting for." — Catherine Belton, international investigative reporter for The Washington Post and author of Putin's People
"Intimate but unflinchingly objective, this biography gives you a seat at Zelensky's war cabinet and penetrates his mind as he battles to save Ukraine's freedom—and ours." — Peter Pomerantsev, author of Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
"The most intimate portrait of Zelensky, the man at the center of the world drama, painted by one of the best writers in the field, Simon Shuster. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand what Ukrainians are fighting for and why they will prevail." — Serhii Plokhy, author of The Russo-Ukrainian War
"This book is a historical milestone. No journalist in recent memory has had such unique access to the people changing our world in real time. Thanks to Simon Shuster and this brilliant, sincere, and truthful book, readers today—and future generations—will have a chance to learn the inside of this war and to understand Volodymyr Zelensky." — Mikhail Zygar, author of All the Kremlin's Men
Library Journal
★ 12/22/2023
Time correspondent Shuster has been covering events in Ukraine since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. In doing so, he established close working relationships with Ukraine's major political leaders, including President Zelensky, and military officials. The author is present on a gut-wrenching visit to the devastated town of Bucha and at many of Zelensky's diplomatic meetings. He interviews Zelensky, his wife Olena, several political aides, and others in his examination of Zelensky's life, including his early years in Mongolia, his success as a comedian/producer of television variety shows in Ukraine and Russia, his political awakening after the fall of Crimea, and his election. The opening chapter sets the tone with a gripping, hour-by-hour account of the first day of the invasion. Zelensky sent his family to safety but was determined to remain in Kyiv to help the Ukrainian people and lead—largely from a bunker—the fight against Russia. Shuster devotes many pages to Gen. Zaluzhny's crafty military strategy and Zelensky's relentless efforts to obtain money and weaponry from the United States and other western nations. VERDICT Fascinating. Powerful. Important. This book is an illuminating profile of Zelensky's courage and an expert study of the fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine.—Thomas Karel
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-21
A veteran Kyiv-based correspondent for Time offers a nuanced portrait of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Show no mercy. Use all available weapons to wipe out every Russian thing that’s there.” So said Zelensky at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of his country, referring to Russian troops threatening to seize his capital’s airport. The Ukrainian military obliged, but those around Zelensky were surprised by the ferocity of his response; by Shuster’s account, the former comedian had become a steely leader overnight. He’d entered office under something of a cloud: Having promised not to take up residence in the president’s opulent quarters (but then doing just that), he aroused the anger of the political opposition and the press. The war soon followed, and it changed him. As Shuster writes, he “turned into a wartime president unique to our age of instant information,” one aspect of which was to keep his own counsel and rely less on his aides. That said, the author depicts Zelensky as somewhat of a naif. He had hoped, for example, that their shared background in show business would make Donald Trump more sympathetic to Ukraine’s cause, even as Trump proved himself to be a Putin cheerleader, particularly after cutting off funds when Zelensky sidelined his call for a probe into the Biden family. He also angered Joe Biden and other world leaders by his strident demands for more and more aid. Sensitive to criticism and, at one point, angry himself that world events seemed to have placed his nation in the middle of a power struggle between “these empires, the United States, Russia, China,” Zelensky has nonetheless clearly risen to the occasion—and, Shuster hopes, he will remain a resolute leader and guide his nation to victory.
A useful key for understanding a politician and tactician much in the news but little known.
