Overreach
istorians usually have hindsight and archive material to suit their narrative. Writing in real time about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Owen Matthews (half Russian; Christ Church, Oxford; former Moscow bureau chief) has had neither. Fluent, authoritative, superbly researched, with contemporary and historical perspective, he has, as a former war correspondent, covered this brutal conflict on the ground as it has unfolded. And he has got to the heart of