Books From
Gregory J. Leeson

When I was a university student, I came within a whisker of majoring in Russian history. I found its unique history fascinating. Although I eventually took the more practical path and completed an economics degree, that fascination with the country never disappeared. I fulfilled a dream when I visited Moscow and St. Petersburg with my twelve-year-old daughter in 2013. We met a great couple with whom we stayed in St. Petersburg and remain in touch. The people are so much greater than the nomenklatura that control that failed state now. And so it is with great sorrow that I no longer feel it is safe to travel there now. But Ukraine, a free Ukraine, is a different story.
 
In January 2023, I interviewed a gentleman from West Virginia who despised Vladimir Putin for my previous book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives. During the summer of 2024, he informed me that he was heading to Ukraine to volunteer, thereby imprinting his footprint on Putin in the only way he knew how. He urged me to also travel to Ukraine to tell the stories of a people who have suffered unspeakable, heinous acts of a foreign dictator. I thought the idea was sublime!
 
Having authored a book about people and their lives, I immediately knew the theme of my Ukrainian project, but I also knew I wanted to add something new. Pictures can sometimes convey a message where words fail. Following that epiphany, my former high school classmate, Mary Coakley, came to mind. Now living in British Columbia, Mary tells stories about people worldwide through her exquisite photos. There was no one better for this intimate project.
 
But I wanted more, and cinematography was the next logical step. For that, having a Ukrainian team was the obvious choice.

Contingent on a resolution to the war, our travel to Ukraine is planned for the spring of 2026. More to come.