ACKNOWLEDGMENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Whenever I’m at risk of sinking into a sea of interesting ideas and intriguing opportunities, my wife Dasha throws me a line and pulls me to the right destination. She knew that this was the right book at the right time.

I very much hope that the book itself recognizes the many individuals who have educated and inspired me during my past ten years as a human rights activist, so I will use this space for those who turned that education and inspiration into a book.

Chris Parris-Lamb, my agent at The Gernert Company, impressed us from the first day we met with his preparation and energy. Chris and our editor at PublicAffairs, Benjamin Adams, were essential in quickly figuring out how to turn a tangle of ideas, history, memoir, analysis, current events, and opinion into a coherent story with a vital message. PublicAffairs founder Peter Osnos has a great nose for news and his enthusiastic support for the book was a tremendous boost.

Special thanks to George R. R. Martin for his marvelous book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, and its derived HBO television series Game of Thrones, which inspired this book’s title. Putin may be a lot like Tywin Lannister but I’m justifiably afraid to compare myself to any of the characters considering how often they meet gruesome fates!