When Vasily Grossman attempted to publish his 1961 masterpiece, Life and Fate, it was seized by the KGB for being subversive. When it emerged posthumously, decades later, it was recognized as the War and Peace of the 20th century. Always at the epicenter of events, Grossman (1905-1964) was among the first journalists to describe the Holocaust and the Ukrainian famine. A finalist for the 2019 National Jewish Book Award, Alexandra Popoff's biography illuminates Grossman's life and legacy.