The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World

by Iuliia Mendel Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

Overview

“Moving.” -The Washington Post

When Ukrainian journalist Iuliia Mendel got the call she had been hired to work for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, she had no idea what was to come.

In this frank and moving inside account, Zelenskyy's former press secretary tells the story of his improbable rise from popular comedian to the president of Ukraine. Mendel had a front row seat to many of the key events preceding the 2022 Russian invasion. From attending meetings between Zelenskyy and Putin and other European leaders, visiting the front lines in Donbas, to fielding press inquiries after the infamous phone calls between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy that led to Trump's first impeachment.

Mendel saw firsthand Zelenskyy's efforts to transform his country from a poor, backward Soviet state into a vibrant, prosperous European democracy. Mendel sheds light on the massive economic problems facing Ukraine and the entrenched corrupt oligarchs in league with Russia. She witnessed the Kremlin's repeated attacks to discredit Zelenskyy through disinformation and an army of bots and trolls.

Woven into her account are details about her own life as a member of Zelenskyy's new Ukraine. Written with the sound of Russian bombs and exploding shells in the background, Mendel details life lived under Russian siege in 2022. She says goodbye to her fiancé who joins the front lines, like so many other Ukrainian men. Throughout this story of Zelenskyy, Ukraine, and its extraordinary people, Iuliia Mendel reminds us of the paramount importance of truth and human values, especially in these darkest of times.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Moving.... [Mendel] helps demystify the dictator [Vladimir Putin] whom the Western media has long portrayed as having the cunning and wit of a fearless Bond villain... Her reflections on her relationship with the Ukrainian language at a time when Ukraine’s cultural ties to Russia have been all but severed are also extremely important to the cultural discourse.”
—The Washington Post

“By sharing her own story, Iuliia Mendel offers a powerful window into the soul of modern Ukraine. The Fight of Our Lives brings you inside a generation raised in transformation and provides vital context around Putin’s war on Ukraine. Her journey and her nation’s will move you and push you to learn more.”
—Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, New York Times bestselling author of The Daughters of Kobani

“Iuliia Mendel’s book reminds us that war is not only about machines and destruction—it is also about people and ideas. The Fight of Our Lives shows us how Ukraine’s fight for freedom is our fight—humanity’s fight against tyranny.”
—Kurt Volker, former United States ambassador to NATO

“In earnest and perceptive prose, Mendel’s The Fight of Our Lives tells the gripping story of Ukraine’s determined coming-of-age amid the most ghastly of circumstances.”
—Marci Shore, associate professor of history at Yale University and author of The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution

“Who is Mr. Zelenskyy? Few people who write about the Ukrainian president and his surprising meteoric rise, first to the top of Ukrainian politics and then to the status of America’s most popular foreign leader, know him as well as Iuliia Mendel. In this book she shares with the world her personal story as the first press secretary of Mr. Zelenskyy and the story of the president and the country he leads. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand Ukraine of today and the values it fights for.”
—Serhii Plokhy, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University, and author of The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine and Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters

"Iuliia Mendel's extraordinary story shows us her Ukraine, a young country that chose progress with President Zelenskyy’s transformative election but now finds itself under attack in Vladimir Putin's war on democracy."
—Ivan Mikloš, Slovakian economist and politician, former minister of finance of Slovakia

“A spirited account of history in the making.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A closely observed [and] nuanced portrait of a leader in a time of crisis who has definitely risen to the occasion.”
—Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews

2022-06-12
The former press secretary to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy lays out the stakes of the current war.

“Perhaps he had not always been a perfect leader,” writes Mendel. “There had been difficulty in mustering the necessary support around his initiatives, managing his staff, and navigating the shoals of partisan politics. But in the chaos of war he knew exactly what to do. He became our national protector.” Indeed, Zelenskyy came into his own as a wartime leader of unflinching courage and a deeply wrought conviction that Ukraine is a bulwark of Western democracy and a nation that belongs in the 21st century. By contrast, Mendel writes in a closely observed portrait, “there is only one way to describe Putin: ‘old age.’ No matter how much I looked at him and his delegation, no matter how much I listened, everything about them conveyed old age: old ideology, old principles, old behavior, old thoughts.” Readers will find a generally admiring but not entirely uncritical depiction of Zelenskyy as well. He is a masterful negotiator who understands that peace is preferable to war, for “only with peace can he focus on rebuilding his nation.” That rebuilding involves guiding Ukraine to forward-looking economic, social, and cultural standards and shaking off the power of oligarchs, but it also acknowledges that Ukraine is a multicultural society that includes ethnic Russians—who, in the course of the current war, have discovered that their language is now associated with “inhumanity and cruel aggression,” so much so that they’re switching to speaking Ukrainian as an expression of solidarity. Readers will also find a cleareyed look at both the reasons for Russia’s intransigence and the countervailing force of Ukrainian resistance in a war that “has burned away all that was artificial and superficial in our lives.”

A nuanced portrait of a leader in a time of crisis who has definitely risen to the occasion.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175398091
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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