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Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine Paperback – 8 Jun. 2023

by Owen Matthews (Author)

4.6 738 ratings

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Winner of the Pushkin House Book Prize 2023

*A Telegraph Book of the Year*

A Times Best Book of Summer 2023

*Shortlisted for the Parliamentary Book Awards*

An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol.

The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War – and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin apparently lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime – and Russia itself – at risk of destruction. Why?

Drawing on over 25 years’ experience as a correspondent in Moscow, as well as his own family ties to Russia and Ukraine, journalist Owen Matthews takes us through the poisoned historical roots of the conflict, into the Covid bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of paranoia about Western threats, and finally into the inner circle around Ukrainian president and unexpected war hero Volodimir Zelensky.

Using the accounts of current and former insiders from the Kremlin and its propaganda machine, the testimony of captured Russian soldiers and on-the-ground reporting from Russia and Ukraine, Overreach tells the story not only of the war’s causes but how the first six months unfolded.

With its panoramic view, Overreach is an authoritative, unmissable record of a conflict that shocked Europe to its core.

From the Publisher

'Matthews writes with extraordinary vividness...' Spectator

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‘Not merely the first full account of the war in Ukraine, but may set the standard for some time to come … a remarkable achievement, with Matthews’s expert eye like an all-seeing drone, buzzing from one side of the conflict to the other’ 5* Telegraph

‘A vivid and revealing first draft of history … The strength of his account lies in his ability to tell the story from many angles, weaving them into a single, fast-paced narrative … fascinating’ Financial Times

‘The best current analysis of the countdown to war’ Serhii Plokhy, TLS

‘There will be many more books on Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but Owen Matthews’ extraordinary perspective has produced an interim account of special value.’ Daily Mail

‘A wave of hurriedly written books about the Russo-Ukrainian war is about to crash over our bookshops and overburdened shelves, but it is hard not to feel sorry for most of their authors. Owen Matthews has already come out with what is not only one of the fastest, but also likely to be the best, setting a painfully high benchmark for those who follow.’ Times

‘The best new book on Russia … a classic as enduring as Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia’ Literary Review

‘Superb … a true page-turner’ Andrew Roberts, BBC History

Book Description

The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mudlark (8 Jun. 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0008562784
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008562786
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 3.2 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 33,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,597 in History (Books)
- 10,364 in Society, Politics & Philosophy

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4.6 738 ratings

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Owen Matthews

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Owen Matthews was born in London in 1971. He studied Modern History at Oxford University before beginning his career as a freelance journalist in Bosnia. His stories have appeared in a number of publications including the Spectator, Harper's and Queen and Private Eye, the Times and Sunday Times, the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Mail and the Times Literary Supplement. From 1995 to 1997 he worked at The Moscow Times, a daily English-language newspaper in Moscow, with forays into Lebanon and Afghanistan.

In 1997 Owen became a correspondent for Newsweek magazine, covering the second Chechen war as well as Russian politics and society. From 2001 to 2006 he was based in Istanbul, covering the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2006 he has combined the jobs of Newsweek's Moscow bureau chief and Istanbul correspondent. Owen is the author of Stalin's Children: Three Generations of Love and War, published by Bloomsbury in June 2008, which was shortlisted for that year's Guardian First Books Award and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, and listed among the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator. Stalin's Children has been translated into twenty languages, and the French edition (Les Enfants de Staline, Belfond, 2009) was shortlisted for the Prix Medicis Etranger 2009 and the Grand Prix des Lectrices d'Elle 2010.

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Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They describe it as an objective, thoughtful introduction to Russian history that is worth reading.

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17 customers mention ‘Information quality’16 positive1 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-written. They describe it as an authoritative account of events leading up to the recent invasion of Ukraine. The book provides a concise yet informative history with insightful behind-the-scenes analysis.

"Combining clear skills as a journalist with total fluency in Russian (mother born in Russian speaking Ukraine in USSR in 1934, Russian wife, etc.)..." Read more

"This is well worth reading giving a brief but very informative history of Ukraine along with more detail on Ukraine since independence and the..." Read more

"An insight into Putin's invasion of Ukraine that is as upsetting as it is interesting...." Read more

"I didn’t know this went on in the world wars. Very informative and frightening to think about what might happen in the future." Read more

9 customers mention ‘Value for money’9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an enjoyable read that is worth their time. They appreciate the analytical investigations and facts presented in it.

"...Thank you Mr. Matthews for a very, very informative read. Very enjoyable, and not a little scary !" Read more

"...and I learned some new facts from it, which makes a non-fiction book worth reading for me...." Read more

"Well researched book. Destroys Putins version of Russian history." Read more

"One of the best analytical investigations of the main characters and flawed reasons for the invasion...." Read more

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Brian Lait
Incisive
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2024
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Combining clear skills as a journalist with total fluency in Russian (mother born in Russian speaking Ukraine in USSR in 1934, Russian wife, etc.) Matthews has succeeded in writing a very incisive and educational book regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine. Although published in 2022 it examines the history of Ukraine's relationship with Russia and the rise of Putin.

What makes it sort of exceptional for me are the myriad of personal stories included, arising from interviews with many different personnel, such as:
The funeral director, Mykhailo Sokurenko who wanted to drop bodies from a plane over Moscow to show people there exactly what was going on, Anna Bondarenko a TV news producer who described the propaganda she was instructed to broadcast as "shit", Svetlana Terekhova stranded in Milan unable to pay for her hotel when sanctions bit, Larisa Boiko's suffering in Mariupol and Jimmy S and his mate Lambie in Kharkiv.

Matthews clearly shows how Zelensky has changed from a comedian into a very skilful and hard-nosed leader who is a great credit to his nation.

I lived and worked in Kyiv through into the new millennium when Russians and Ukrainians lived and worked side by side in what, to me, appeared to be peace. How that must have changed.

This book is the very first time I have heard or seen anything in writing as to how Putin got from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Headhunted by Voloshin with the aid of Berezovsky ??? Although interesting, I am still sceptical about that.

It is interesting to be reminded that Russia has failed to manufacture anything wanted by the world with the exception, perhaps, of military arms.

I deduce that perhaps, just perhaps, a lot might have been avoided if NATO had been more careful and, certainly, if the USA had made a better fist of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

What the west very much fails to grasp is that unlike the west, Russians do not blame their leaders for failures and incompetence.

Further, the majority of Russians are close to the monthly average salary of £802 and some 14% are below the poverty line on £120 per month. The withdrawal of the fancy retailers does not affect them one jot.

Thank you Mr. Matthews for a very, very informative read. Very enjoyable, and not a little scary !

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Mr. Duncan Macfarlane
Well written, informative, but lacks index, sources on some major claims, sometimes too credulous
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2022
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This is well worth reading giving a brief but very informative history of Ukraine along with more detail on Ukraine since independence and the current war. It was well written, so easy to read without being too simplistic, and I learned some new facts from it, which makes a non-fiction book worth reading for me.

Its weak points are the lack of an index (possibly because it covers right up till the end of September 2022 so has been rushed out) ; the lack of sources for some major claims while providing sources for relatively trivial ones (e.g provides a source on what Putin said about a US vs Russia hockey match, but not on claims that Russian forces were fighting in the Donbas long before the 2022 invasion) ; sometimes it is too credulous (e.g reporting "mobile crematoria" having been "used by both sides" despite a lack of evidence of their existence and echoes of the "mobile bio-weapons lab" propaganda before the Iraq war) ; and it sometimes wastes time on not very relevant details (e.g how Zelensky or Putin were dressed while making particular speeches)

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Lynn B
Well worth a read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2025
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An insight into Putin's invasion of Ukraine that is as upsetting as it is interesting. It gives a good idea just how many moving parts there are and just how difficult it will be to resolve.

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Ajay
Excellently written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2025
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I didn’t know this went on in the world wars.
Very informative and frightening to think about what might happen in the future.

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T B.
Mind boggling 300 + years of detailed Russian/Ukrain history.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2024
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Well researched book.
Destroys Putins version of Russian history.

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Bristles
Very thorough
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2022
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Authoritative account of events leading up to recent invasion of Ukraine

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J. Boyle
Brilliant analysis of the Ukraine war
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2024
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Taught me more about this war than I have ever seen in any other analysis. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the Russian war on Ukraine.

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Kindle Customer
Good summary of the events that preceeded and proceeded Putins Pointless war
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 April 2024
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Though only the limited to the first year of the war, If one wants to get a comprehensive picture of the factors that lead, and the events that followed Putin's pointless war then this book is a good introduction.

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francoise wiggett
Arrived in perfect shape. Like new
Reviewed in Canada on 15 April 2024
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Book arrived in good time and looked new

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11 Bravo
Eye Opening
Reviewed in the United States on 26 February 2024
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"Overreach" is enlightening not because of any novel analysis, secret information, or surprise revelations, but because of its straightforward presentation of the collective destructive march of the rump of Imperial Russia, the resentful remnants of a debased Soviet Union, and the current opportunistic elite of a kleptocratic diminished Russia, towards a war they will never win, that sucks them back into the twentieth century, and earned them the scorn of Europe for decades. I particularly liked pages 155 through 158 where Mr. Matthews describes the actors and processes in which the important decisions are made in Russia, a form of careless nepotism and intelectual inbreeding similar to a prison gang, leaving the impression that Russia is actually a criminal organization with an insipid looking flag rather than a nation state. A telling comment of the author is that Russia actually manufactures nothing that the West wants. Even their best weapons are third world trash. Basically, the war with Ukraine has ruined Russia's resource extraction based economy and they have nothing else to fall back on. A big reveal in "Overreach" is the vulnerability of the government and people to the health, whims, and mental fitness of one man, Putin. Unlike many Western nations, Russia has no plan for governmental succession or a history of peaceful political inheritance. While America may face mountains during elections, Russia faces a cliff when its dictator exceeds his shelf life, like North Korea without the rabid family and military control or China minus the entrenched party discipline. Besides religion and mock imperial history, there is no new cult manefesto, no compelling economic theory, no political planks, no party dogma, no enduring ideology, no fanatical storm troopers, no Hammer and Sickle insignia, no Red Star banner, no Mao caps, not even an iconic but unreable "Mein Kamph", nothing to pretend to hold the rudderless ship of state together. Even the armed forces stink. It will be like the 1990s all over again, every man and criminal for himself, until the next mob boss slimes his way to the top. Having said all that, I have a couple of beefs. First, there is no index. I thought that was odd for a book that begs to be re-read and researched for teaching and learning, as it is a great history of the causes and beginning of the conflict. Second, and I admit bias as an Infantryman for thirty one years, but there are no maps. Zero. Yes, I know we have the internet and atlases, but I don't want to have to read with my tablet next to me or another big book laying alongside. A few maps showing the political boundaries of Eastern Europe, the basic geography of the region, and laying out the large combat formations and major military movements of the forces involved, would have been helpful. If Crimea and the Donbas were important enough for the Russians to go to war for and kill both Ukranians and their own soldiers by the thousands, it would be nice to graphically see why somewhere in the book. Not having photos was not a big deal as most readers have a decent idea of what the principal actors look like and how badly busted Russian tanks burn, but they would have been an asset too. I am going to be bold enough to recommend reading the concluding chapter twelve FIRST ("Til Vahall") as it explains where the rest of the material is going without taking anything away from the journey. Mr. Mathews' recommendation of Woodward's "Plan of Attack" is a good one too. Russians are not the only people capable of a herd mentality, group think, and self-delusion.

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Großartig!
Reviewed in Germany on 10 December 2024
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Eine minutiöse Auflistung der Ereignisse mit aufschlussreichen Erläuterungen zu jedem Schritt. Auch wenn man wenig über die Ukraine und Russland wissen sollte, bringt dieses Buch mehr als nur Fakten, sondern auch ein tieferes Verständnis der Ursachen. Mutig und klar, wie immer bei Owen Matthews.

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Excelente
Reviewed in Spain on 21 September 2023
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No tiene pérdida, la Rusia más oscura contada de forma brillante.

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Book
Reviewed in Australia on 1 March 2025
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Good book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Großartig!

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