She is intimate, sincere, and unpretentious-the perfect cultural commentator.-William T. is a unique and fascinating guide to the post-Soviet generation.honest, clear, and deeply humane.-Catherine Merridale 'Financial Times' lively memoir about traveling in post-Soviet Ukraine.passionate and persuasive.-Alexandra Popoff 'Wall Street Journal'Īffecting.Pinkham has an eye for the elegiac.-Andrew Meier 'New York Times Book Review' Anyone who wants an explanation of Ukraine's recent history that goes beyond Kremlin propaganda and Western media oversimplification should read this book.-Keith Gessen In Ukraine and its complex and tragic confrontation with Russia (and itself), she has found the perfect subject. Sophie Pinkham is a wry, erudite observer of human foibles, political illusions, and funny hats. These fascinating personalities, rendered in a bold, original style, deliver an indelible impression of a country on the brink.īlack Square is necessary reading for anyone who wishes to learn the roots of the current Russo-Ukrainian war and the stories of the people who live it every day.Īn empathetic and deeply humanizing look at troubled times and dangerous, revolutionary days.-Peter Pomerantzev

She meets-among others-a charismatic doctor helping to smooth the transition to democracy even as he struggles with drug dependence a band of Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian hippies in a Crimean idyll and a Jewish clarinetist agitating for Ukrainian liberation. With a keen eye for the dark absurdities of post-Soviet society, Pinkham presents a dynamic account of contemporary Ukrainian life. Sophie Pinkham saw all this and more during ten years in Ukraine and Russia, a period that included the Maidan revolution of 2013-14, Russia's annexation of Crimea, and the ensuing war in Donbass. Each time Ukraine has rebuilt itself over the last century, it has been plagued by the same conflicts: corruption, poverty, and, most of all, Russian aggression.

Black Square by Sophie Pinkham