More on Ukraine
Three books are that are relevent to the crisis in Ukraine are worth mentioning for those of you who like to explore situations in depth. (See blog entry on The Gates of Europe.) Two of the books are non-fiction and the third is considered historical fiction.
Lessons from the Edge was written by Marie Yovanovitch. Remember her? She was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until being abruptly replaced. She testified at former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.
Even though her hitherto successful diplomatic career was thwarted, she retained her dignity and went on to write a memoir. Yovanovitch was born in Canada to Russian parents who had escaped both the Nazis and the Soviets. Her parents migrated to American when she was a toddler. According to Internet sources, she is currently a diplomat in residence at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
The Trials of Harry S. Truman, by Jeffrey Frank, is, of course, about President Harry Truman. While David McCullough is credited with writing the quintessential biography of Truman almost 30 years ago, Frank takes a new look at the man who ‘inherited’ the U. S. Presidency at a climactic point in American history. Many of Truman’s decisions, such as using the atomic bomb for the first time and entering the Korean War, have had long lasting effects on the United States. During Truman’s presidency the Cold War started, NATO was established and The Marshall Plan rebuilt a war-ravaged Europe. Truman oversaw the post-war creation of a new world order, one that is very much playing out now in 2022.
I Will Die in a Foreign Land was written by Kalani Pickhart, who is donating the proceeds from book sales to the Ukranian Red Cross and ICRC Ukraine. The novel was published in 2021 and received excellent reviews. The backdrop to the story was an event in Kyiv In November of 2013, when police fired on peaceful protestors killilng hundreds. The citizens were protesting the Ukranian government’s sudden rejection of a formerly agreed upon alliance with the European Union. Instead then-President Viktor Yanukovych aligned his country with Russia. Many of the citizens were already enraged by their government’s corruption and violation of human rights, and they wanted no part of Russia’s oligarchs and Putin’s strongarm tactics. Pickhart’s story follows the effects of the protest and the insuing “Revolution of Dignity” on four young Ukranians. Needless to say, the title is a chilling forshadowing of the recent Russian invasion.
