INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "Shuster crafts an intimate account of the Russian invasion
which vividly captures Zelensky’s transformation from a clean-cut funnyman into a war hero out
of central casting. " -- New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Selection “ The Showman
surpasses all similar efforts to date and is set to be the standard by which all other works on
Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine’s wartime politics will be judged." — Wall Street Journal A monumental
account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the forging of a leader The Showman 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 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. The Showman as a work of eyewitness journalism 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.
