Journalist Christopher Miller delivers a riveting and heartbreaking account of Russia's destructive invasion of Ukraine in The War Came to Us, his first book. As a personal history, a live-action narration of the war begun in 2022, and a detailed accounting of the years that led up to it, the book is compelling, tragic, and a vital primary source. Miller joined the Peace Corps in 2010 after working as a journalist in his hometown of Portland, Ore. He was sent to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a rough-edged borderland struggling to recover from the decline in manufacturing and natural-resource extraction that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Miller remained after his service ended, mastering the language and working for various news outlets. While the country seemed to be coming into its own, less than 25 years after formal independence, terrible strains emerged. Following the Euromaidan (the Maidan Uprising, which began in November 2013)--in which Ukrainian society overthrew a Russian-backed president who had sought to strengthen ties with Russia at the expense of the European Union--Russia covertly invaded eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Russia made the fateful decision, after years of localized conflict, to launch a large-scale invasion in February 2022.
Thus was Miller made into a war correspondent. Miller details with courage and humanity the appalling death and destruction that has touched the lives of people and communities he has known. With firsthand accounts from civilians of all ages, front-line soldiers, and the highest levels of the government, including President Zelensky, Miller's journalism is a valuable first draft of history. --Walker Minot, writer and editor