In Conversation: Alexander Vindman and Heather Reisman

Event Details

Event type: All Ages

Join retired lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman and Indigo's Chief Booklover Heather Reisman in store for a timely conversation about Vindman's latest book, The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine.

Event Guidelines:
- Must purchase a ticket to attend.
- Ticket includes access to the event and a pre-signed copy of The Folly of Realism.
- No posed photography.
- Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

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About the Book:

A chilling analysis of how Western indecision and apathy made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism with catastrophic consequences – “A must-read for anyone who wants to understand what went wrong and how it can be fixed” (Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable.

In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that America’s mistakes in Eastern Europe result from policymakers’ fixation on immediate, short-term problem-solving and misplaced hopes and fears. He proposes a new long-term, values-based approach that insists on the fundamentals of liberal democracy and a rules-based world order.

Enlivened by firsthand accounts and behind-the-scenes interviews with leading Washington and international policymakers and culminating in the shocking brutality of Putin’s invasions of Ukraine, the book exposes the follies of western foreign policymaking, sources of the dangerous return of Russian imperialism, and proscribes how it can be contained.