In Ukraine and its complex and tragic confrontation with Russia (and itself), she has found the perfect subject. With a combination of sympathy and skeptical wit, Pinkham shows us an extraordinary, often baffling country in all its human complexity., Sophie Pinkham is a wry, erudite observer of human foibles, political illusions, and funny hats. It's especially valuable in helping us to understand the deeper origins of the Maidan movement, and to see how the painful divisions running through Ukraine today have played out in everyday life. Black 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.īlack Square is a sharp-eyed portrait of Ukraine in post-Soviet times - funny and moving, sad and slyly ironic by turns. These fascinating personalities, rendered in a bold, original style, deliver an indelible impression of a country on the brink. 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. (Nov.A distinctive writer's fascinating journey into the heart of a troubled region, tracing the origins of the war that is now tearing Europe apart. Pinkham’s look at Ukraine is accessible and comprehensive. Pinkham is increasingly aware of the ever-present corruption and growing instability in Ukraine, and she examines the Maidan revolution and Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the continuing war in eastern Ukraine. She’s astute in her observations as she takes a close look at Ukraine’s complex history and often hostile relationship with Russia. Pinkham eventually moves to Ukraine-a country whose “horse-drawn carts and babushkas survived” alongside newfound wealth and a growing totalitarian state-and falls in love with it. She took a job with the Open Society Institute, working on an education and treatment program for drug users to combat the AIDS epidemic. She studied Russian and volunteered with health groups in college, and, after graduating in the early 2000s, was in search of purpose. Pinkham, who has written on Ukraine for the New Yorker, has a reporter’s incisive eye and gives a rich and fascinating view of post-Soviet Ukrainian life.
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