Three years after the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky was elected to Ukraine's highest office, he found himself catapulted into the role of war-time leader. The former comedian has become the public face of his country's courageous and bloody struggle against a brutal invasion.
Born to Jewish parents in central Ukraine, Zelensky campaigned for the presidency in the 2019 election on the promise to restore trust in politics. After his landslide victory, he told jubilant supporters 'I will never let you down.' Little did he know that he would be called upon to serve his people in the most demanding circumstances imaginable, fighting for the very survival of his country in the worst war on European soil since 1945.
Zelensky's leadership in the face of Russia's aggression is an inspiration to everyone who stands opposed to the appalling violence being unleashed on Ukraine.
This book tells his astonishing story.
Title: Zelensky: A Biography
Author: Rudenko, Serhii
ISBN: 9781509556380
Binding:
Publisher: Polity Press
Publication Date: 2022-07-14
Number of Pages: 200
Weight: 0.4161 kg
''War is a rupture-in a country's life and a leader's. Amid the calamity, Ukrainians have proven lucky in theirs. As Mr Rudenko writes at the close, the man who was ''visibly nervous'' in his early bouts of diplomacy, the ingenue and clown, now has an experience of statecraft that no modern Western leader can match, nor would wish to.''
The Economist
From voice of Paddington to global giant... the man behind the wartime facade
The Observer
The first English-language biography of Zelensky reveals what Ukrainians really think of him
The Telegraph
Serhii Rudenko's biography is a portrait of a wartime hero whose troubled past may return to haunt him... [It is] an extraordinary life story, which is still being written. Reading this biography now, in the wake of a war that upended our understanding of both Zelensky and Ukraine, presents his personal history in a new light.
Lyse Doucet, The New Statesman
Fascinating
The Guardian
A fast-paced biography of an unexpected world leader... the author capably shows how Zelensky has displayed an astonishing transformation in the face of continued Russian aggression.
Kirkus
Rudenko has written a succinct political biography that plunges readers right into the middle of the Ukrainian political scene
Prospect Magazine