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A year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, destroying a peaceful order in Europe and placing its own regime at risk. We in the West have experienced this historical turning point through a haze of propaganda. According to Snyder, the Kremlin was perhaps wrong about the political weakness of Ukraine, but likely right about some intellectual weaknesses of Americans and Europeans. When will the war end? This rare pairing of two essential thinkers on Eastern European politics offers a revelatory look at why what happens in Ukraine is of significant international importance.

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder is the Bird White Housum Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of five award-winning books. His 2010 book, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, was selected as a best book of the year by The Economist, The New Republic, and The Guardian and received a number of honors, including the Leipzig Prize for European Understanding and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award in the Humanities.


Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is the author seven books, including the national bestseller The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. Born in Moscow, she emigrated to the United States in her teens, then returned to Russia a decade later. Writing in both Russian and English, she has covered every major development in Russian politics and culture of the past two decades, receiving numerous awards and fellowships in the process. She blogs weekly for The New York Times and has written for The New York Review of Books, International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, and U.S. News & World Report (where she served as Moscow Bureau Chief), and has also edited several Russian magazines. She has recently relocated to New York City.


Justinian Jampol

Justinian Jampol is Founder and Executive Director of the Wende Museum. His work focuses on visual cultural studies and the connection between contemporary art and Cold War iconography. The curator of several exhibitions, Jampol has also produced two documentary films on the Cold War, as well as urban art programs including The Wall Project. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and The New York Times. He is the author of Beyond the Wall: Art and Artifacts from the GDR, published by Taschen in December 2014.


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