A collection of vivid and powerful testimonies from the conflict in Ukraine, collated and illustrated by award-winning artist George Butler.

While reporting on the war in Ukraine, George Butler has created striking and intimate illustrations to introduce us to the people behind the headlines. His drawings, made in a variety of places from missile-scarred streets to nursing homes, vividly capture stories of family, tragedy, and perseverance. These powerful portraits of war and conflict are a timely reminder of the humanity we all share and our universal need for peace. A stunning, illuminating, and sensitive look at stories that deserve to be told. Includes a foreword by Oksana Markarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States.

In my time serving in Ukraine, I witnessed the incredible strength and resourcefulness of the Ukrainian people, which George Butler so perfectly captures in his sensitive portraits and profiles. This book is a powerful testament to a people who are fighting for their lives and country and, in doing so, are fighting for all of us.
—William B. Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine

George Butler reports from the frontline of humanity producing images of astonishing power. They stay in the mind for a long time. Humane, compassionate, and deeply thought-provoking.
—Stephen Fry

Reportage of aching beauty – Butler’s gentle engagement draws out stories of profound sadness, but also courage and strength.
—Lyse Doucet, journalist

Reportage illustration at its finest.
—Ian Hislop, journalist

George Butler is in the front rank of chroniclers of our trouble times. His work shows the power of paper and ink in the digital age.
—Jeremy Bowen, journalist

George is a truly remarkable person – there is so much courage, curiosity, and empathy behind these precise, sometimes playful, unexpected images of humans in extremity. He always makes me think.
—Rory Stewart, author

George Butler’s poignant illustrations show what I see every day in the soldiers and other amputees recovering at the Superhumans Center, that Ukrainians living and trying and surviving is a powerful form of resistance.
—Olga Rudneva, CEO of Superhumans

Butler includes stories of survival, sacrifice, and unspeakable violence, as well as reflections on community care and people’s hopes and dreams and what brings them joy. The subjects and settings are carefully rendered in sparsely colored ink, watercolor, and collage illustrations, offering a loose, unfinished style that befits the ever-evolving stories and conflict. . . . A raw and indelible work that presents the experiences, perspectives, and voices of ordinary people.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A moving oral history that humanizes war.
—Booklist (Starred Review)