In a highly researched book, authors Olga Onuch and Henry E. Hale posit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as both a representative and an extraordinary member of the “Independence Generation,” that cohort of 35 to 47-year-old Ukrainians who came of age in a post-Soviet country, with all the expectations and disappointments that implies. They trace Ukraine’s trajectory as an “independent” country post-1985–independent yet constantly bedeviled by its superpower neighbor—in parallel with Zelensky’s career. Ukraine’s post-Soviet history has been shaped by corruption, oligarchs, and a political culture they term “patronalism”: “the importance of networks of actual personal acquaintance…networks that tend to have a hierarchical character in that people at the top are well positioned to mobilize people below them for favors, though people at lower levels also typically turn to their ‘patrons’ for help as well” (18). Patronalism can be a Petri dish for corruption, but it can also be “highly effective way of mobilizing people to get things done” (20). Zelensky emerged out of this period of “Orange chaos,” when political networks organized to make change, with a strong orientation toward Europe, pluralism, and democracy based in commitment to civic society rather than the exclusive ethno-linguistic loyalty promoted by Putin. They demonstrate how Zelensky’s career as a writer and actor of comedy—not to mention as a media businessman—actually honed his ability to respond to the populace, and prepared him to operationalize the values of the Independence Generation. If you want to understand Zelensky and Ukraine’s political culture, this book is the place to start; it left me with a real sense of optimism about the country’s postwar future, if we stay committed to helping them win.