Allen Lane signs 'essential' history of war in Ukraine by Plokhy

Allen Lane has signed an “essential” history of the war in Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy, whose books include the Baillie Gifford-winning Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy (Penguin). 

Casiana Ionita, publishing director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The Russo-Ukrainian War from Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency. Allen Lane will publish the book in hardback in May 2023 in the UK. Norton will publish in the US and rights have sold in nine languages to date. 

On 24th February 2022, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. In the midst of checking on the family and friends who were now on the front lines of Europe’s largest conflict since the outbreak of the Second World War, acclaimed Ukrainian-American historian Plokhy found himself attempting to understand the deeper causes of the invasion, analysing its course and contemplating the wider outcomes. 

The Russo-Ukrainian War is "the comprehensive history of a conflict that has burned since 2014, and that, with Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv, exploded a geopolitical order that had been cemented since the end of the Cold War". The publisher said: “With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground, both in the halls of power and down in the trenches, as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history, Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the conflict, from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics.” 

Plokhy said: “I have been writing about the history of Russian-Ukrainian relations for the last three decades, and still the all-out attack on Ukraine by Putin’s Russia came as a surprise to me. In this book I try to explain not only the causes, the course and the possible consequences of the war, but also its many surprises, from Putin’s miscalculations to Zelensky’s ability to inspire and unite his nation, and the entire world, to resist the aggression.” 

Ionita added: “Serhii Plokhy is one of the most important historians writing today and we are delighted to have published many of his influential books on the Cold War, nuclear history and Eastern European history. It has been a privilege working with him on this essential, present-minded history of the war in Ukraine. As we all try to make sense of a senseless war, if anyone can help us understand its origins and consequences, it is surely Serhii.”