Death Is Our Business

"Extraordinary."-CHRIS MILLER, author of Chip War "Incredible."-ANNIE JACOBSEN, author of Nuclear War, via X From John Lechner, "an amazingly bold reporter" (Adam Hochschild), the shocking inside story of how the Wagner Group made private military companies inextricable from Russia''s anti-Western foreign strategy. In 2014, a well-trained, mysterious band of mercenaries arrived in Ukraine, part of Russia''s first attempt to claim the country as its own. Upon ceasefire, the “Wagner Group” faded back into shadow, only to reemerge in the Middle East, where they''d go toe-to-toe with the U.S., and in Africa, where they''d earn praise for “tough measures” against insurgencies yet spark outrage for looting, torture, and civilian deaths. As Russia gained a foothold of influence abroad, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin''s Chef,” went from caterer to commander to single greatest threat Putin