I read a very positive book review about Mr Timothy Snyder's book in the Economist journal and this motivated me to buy this book. Having been nurtured into serious reading by the attraction of books written by giants like Alan Bullock, I was expecting a new and unique intellectual treat. What followed was a shocking disappointment. After having read Timothy Snyders book " The Road to Unfreedom", my irrevocable conclusion was that western history writing standards had deeply declined. Many years ago a class fellow of mine who made many attempts to secure good marks in Fsc examination in order to gain admission to medical college later joined Yale and became an acclaimed personality at Yale. However in social sciences my expectations from Yale were higher . Timothy Snyder shattered all expectations. Timothy Snyder has metaphysical tastes but his metaphsyics makes his entire narrative confusing and vague. The author makes sweeping claims from the start. His assertion that Putins aggression against Ukraine was Reality Test for EU and USA is lopsided as he forgets EU and US invasion of Libya and Iraq which was more one sided and in violation of the entire spirit of international law. Timothy Snyder is obessesed with Kleptocracy and corruption where Russia is concerned but forgets about massive corruption in the USA and EU. He is most outraged with President Trumps election which makes this book questionable and dubious as a serious historical work. Without reading the title one can easily confuse this book with a cheap political pamphlet written by some second rate writer from Democratic Party media cell in the USA. Page.11 starts with attacks on Russian linked off shore companies but Snyder simply forgets that off shore companies were created by west Europeans, particulary British and Dutch. He concentrates the discussion on oligarchy in Russia but forgets about Oligarchy and the 1 percent in the USA. Page.11 illustrates that Snyder is deeply upset by President Trumps election victory and makes no secret of it. Snyder claims on page.11 that Russian state was trying to demolish factuality and to preserve inequality ! Can Snyder deny or prove that these two have not been the aim of almost any state from time immemorial ? But he sees only Russia as a culprit and falls from the high pulpit of a neutral and genuine historian in my eyes as I finish reading page.11 ? Has not the state always been a conspiracy against the superior man ? Who can deny it ! Snyder is Phd in the art of exaggeration which makes him a good political pamphleteer and a worst historians. He dismisses the US election and the sentiments of the US populace when on page 11 he sweeps his Yale broom and declares about the US elections of 2016 " Russian tactics that failed in Ukraine, succeeded in the United States". Making such sweeping broadbrushes in a books prologue leave a bad taste in the mouth. Page.20 finds Snyder criticizing Russian philosopher Ilyin for stating that communism had been inflicted on Russia by the decadent west. Can Snyder deny or refute the fact that the communist revolution succeeded in Russia because Imperial Germany financed Bolshevik anti war propaganda and reurn of Lenin to Russia via Sweden and Finland. That a party with just 12,000 members like Bolsheviks succeeding in capturing power in Russia was certainly a German conspiracy as Germany wanted to free its 80 Divisions or so facing the Russian army and concentrate them in France.