Books at the Institute: The Showman by Simon Shuster

Books at the Institute is pleased to present The New York Times bestseller and The New York Times Editors’ Choice Selection

The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
By Simon Shuster

Mr. Shuster will by joined in conversation with Olena Lennon, PhD

Book signing and light reception to follow

A monumental account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the forging of a leader, The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky provides an insider’s perspective on the war reshaping our world, based on unprecedented access to Volodymyr Zelensky and the high command in Kyiv.

Time magazine correspondent Simon Shuster chronicles the life and leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky from the dressing rooms of his variety shows to the muddy trenches of Ukraine’s war with Russia. Based on four years of reporting; extensive travels with President Zelensky to the front; and dozens of interviews with him, his wife, his friends and enemies, his advisers, ministers and military commanders, Shuster tells the intimate and revealing story of the president’s evolution from a slapstick actor to a symbol of resilience.

In their most candid accounts of the war so far, members of Zelensky’s inner circle show how the president’s character changed under the strains of leadership and the horrors he witnessed each day. His wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, describes her escape from Kyiv with their children, her life on the run, and the tensions that emerged in her marriage as she struggled to return to a meaningful role in the administration. Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, shares the untold story of his fraught relationship with the president and the subsequent consequences.

Reflecting on their own regrets and critical decisions, Zelensky and his senior aides open up about the causes of the Russian invasion and how it may have been avoided. They describe with astonishing frankness how their peace talks with Vladimir Putin fell apart and how their faith in the U.S. faltered, both under Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The Showman provides the first inside account of Zelensky’s life amid the invasion, offering a clear-eyed view of his failures to prepare for it and his willingness to silence dissent under martial law. What emerges is a complex picture of a man struggling to break what he sees as a historical cycle of oppression that began generations before he was born. Even as the war drags on, Zelensky lays out his vision for its future course and, through his actions, demonstrates his strategy for countering the Russians and keeping the West on his side.

As a work of eyewitness journalism, The Showman provides an essential perspective on the war defining our age, resulting in a riveting, vivid portrait of the invasion as experienced by its number one target and improbable hero.

What others are saying about The Showman:

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

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

Intimate but unflinchingly objective, this biography gives you a seat at Zelensky’s wass 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 Showman was reviewed by American Purpose, Publishers Weekly, The Guardian, The Independent, The Irish Times, The Kyiv Independent, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, and featured on CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, and NPR.

Simon Shuster has reported from Russia and Ukraine for 17 years, most of that time as a staff writer for Time magazine. His coverage of the war began in 2014, when he was the first foreign journalist to arrive in Crimea as Russian troops took over the peninsula. In 2019, he met and interviewed Volodymyr Zelensky for a profile of his presidential campaign, then continued covering his administration in the years that followed, first traveling to the war zone with the President in April 2021, as the Russians gathered their armies at the border. When the full-scale invasion began the following year, Simon spent months embedded with the President’s team, securing unparalleled access to their compound in Kyiv, where he wrote The Showman, his first book.

Olena Lennon, Ph.D., is a Practitioner In Residence of National Security at the University of New Haven, where she teaches such courses as the U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy, International Relations, and U.S. National Security. An Eastern Ukraine native, she also serves as an election observer with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and has completed several election observation missions in the region. Formerly a Fulbright scholar and most recently a Title VIII Scholar at Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., Olena has dedicated her research to domestic and international politics of Ukraine, as well as Eurasian geopolitics and security writ large. Dr. Lennon also serves on Freedom House’s team of Ukraine experts that produces a yearly “Freedom in the World” report focused on assessing Ukraine’s domestic political environment. She has also conducted Ukraine country studies training for U.S. advisors to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, under the auspices of the United States European Command (EUCOM) Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC).

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To have a copy of the book signed, The Showman will be available for purchase at the Ukrainian Institute of America the evening of the event.

By purchasing a book from the UIA, you are supporting its continued cultural and educational programming and the further enjoyment of its unique events by our friends and community along New York’s Museum Mile.

For further information: Please contact the Ukrainian Institute of America at (212) 288-8660 or mail@ukrainianinstitute.org.

Author photo courtesy of William Morrow and Company.

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Title: The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
Author: Simon Shuster
Publisher: William Morrow (January 23, 2024)
Language: ‎English
Hardcover: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 063307421
ISBN-13: 978-0063307421
Item Weight: 1.25 pounds
Dimensions: 6 x 1.08 x 9 inches