Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia’s War Against the West

Attorney Sullivan was U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation under Presidents Trump and Biden. Before that, he served three other presidents in prominent diplomatic and legal positions, though it’s unusual for a diplomatic appointment to transition across party lines. In addition to being a memoir of his diplomatic career, his first book attempts to understand Russia under Putin. Sullivan shows that Putin identifies with his country to the extent that Russia is Putin, so Putin takes personally any criticism of the war in Ukraine. His debut brims with insightful analysis through the lens of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. Sullivan also writes about being in Russia during COVID and in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal. The memoir emphasizes Sullivan’s career of public service, but it also demonstrates the toll of spending so much time away from his family. Sullivan is clearly a policy wonk, so his book is dense at times but remains accessible to informed readers.