Zelensky

<p><strong><em>Zelensky</em> is the first major biography of Ukraine's leader written for a Western audience.Told with flair and authority it is the gripping story of one of the most admired and inspirational leaders in the world.</strong></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Millions who have admired Volodymyr Zelensky's defiance during Russia's invasion of Ukraine will learn much from this up-to-date biography of the Ukrainian President.</p><p><br></p><p>Zelensky's life to date has been packed with drama and action.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>By the age of 20 the Jewish boy from the provincial town of Kryvyi Rih had become a star of the stage.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>- At 30 he headed a multimillion-dollar TV company.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>- At 40 he took on Ukraine's corrupt political and business elite in a TV drama where he played a history teacher who becomes President.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>- Then he launched a real-life political party named after the TV show won a landslide victory and became Ukraine's real President.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>- When Russian troops flooded across the border Zelensky refused Western offers to leave Kyiv. He has marshalled Ukraine's resistance and successfully obtained Western missile systems and anti-tank weapons.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Zelensky said: 'If I am elected they will first sling mud at me. Then they will learn to respect me. And finally cry when I leave.'</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Covering Zelensky's background and bustling TV career through to his first controversial years in office to Russia's full-scale blitzkrieg <em>Zelensky </em>is written by a long-standing Russia and Ukraine reporter and a Russian- and Ukrainian speaking researcher.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>It's a pithy biography of Zelensky for anyone who wants to understand Ukraine's charismatic head of state his complex country and its vexed relationship with Russia.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Covering Zelensky's life from his childhood to the Ukrainian presidency Zelensky deals with: his background in a Russian-speaking region of Ukraine; his early career in TV taking part in KVN talent competitions; his rise through the Ukrainian and Russian television industry; and his breakthrough moment in the TV series <em>Servant of the People </em>playing a teacher Vasyl Holoborodko who dreams of reforming Ukraine and ending its corruption.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>The show becomes a reality and Zelensky and his party called Servant of the People take power.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Zelensky's presidency is dogged by controversy concerning his attempts to curry favor with the US President Donald Trump and the offshoring of tens of millions of dollars.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Zelensky battles political rivals and takes on powerful vested interests in Europe's second-largest country - before fighting a superpower in a fight most assume Ukraine will quickly lose (but has not).</p>