While I found quite a bit of this book interesting [the author's time in Russia was very enlightening], there were moments of REAL boredom [the getting to Russia and the author's propensity for repetition. Lots and LOTS of repetition; I personally think this could have been about 50-100 pages shorter] and that really bogged this book down for me.

And then...

My biggest issue with this book [and author] is this:
After talking about all the problems with AND within Russia, with Putin, AND with DJT [whom the author had previously worked for in the White House, and talks at length about the chaos that he experienced daily while there] and his willingness to destroy Democracy [the last chapter was FULL of this], imagine my shock and surprise to find out that the author WILLINGLY chose party over people, over warnings from almost everyone who had previously worked for him [including the author's mentor, who just happened to also write the foreward to this book - I wonder if he regrets that now] and voted AGAINST Democracy and voted for DJT. He willingly is enabling everything he spent a WHOLE book warning the readers about and I was left deeply disappointed, upset, and just not believing anything this man had just spent hours telling me.

I cannot therefore, in good faith, rate this book NOR can I recommend it to anyone, and I wish I had known his REAL views before reading this as I would have given this a very hard pass.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Little, Brown, and Company for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

John Sullivan served as ambassador to Russia under both the Trump and Biden administrations and shares his experiences working to try to bridge the growing divide that became evident under President Obama with the initial take over of Crimea by Russian forces and the eventual incursion into the Donbas region by first separatist and then directly-Russian controlled forces who continued waging what became another 'frozen' conflict until the all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

For the most part, Sullivan reiterates much of what is well enough known by those keeping up with current events, from Russian concerns (whether real or imagined) with NATO enlargement and the 'Nazi' threat in Ukraine to its Russian minority population, to Putin's mindset and Russian propaganda campaigns against the United States and the West in general. He also brings attention to the continuing relevance of the Second World War in Putin's rhetoric and Russian thinking with respect to both Ukraine (recycled Nazi threat) and NATO (an entity that will use Ukraine's Nazis as a proxy to attack Russian minorities and possibly Russia itself).

The day-to-day workings of an ambassador, his attempts to free imprisoned Americans in Russia, and his various dealings with Russian counterparts are all interesting and relevant but not revelatory. This is obviously a memoir with a bias and much was left out with respect to context both on the part of Russian agency and that of the US. This is a useful source for those less familiar with Soviet history, Russia, or the current war in Ukraine.