Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation

Description

In 2004 and 2005, striking images from the Ukraine made their way around the world, among them boisterous, orange-clad crowds protesting electoral fraud and the hideously scarred face of a poisoned opposition candidate. Europe's second-largest country but still an immature state only recently independent, Ukraine has become a test case of post-communist democracy, as millions of people in other countries celebrated the protesters' eventual victory. Any attempt to truly understand current events in this vibrant and unsettled land, however, must begin with the Ukraines dramatic history. Ukraine's strategic location between Russia and the West, the country's pronounced cultural regionalism, and the ugly face of post-communist politics are all anchored in Ukraine's complex past. The first Western survey of Ukrainian history to include coverage of the Orange Revolution and its aftermath, this book narrates the deliberate construction of a modern Ukrainian nation, incorporating new Ukrainian scholarship and archival revelations of the post-communist period. Here then is a history of the land where the strategic interests of Russia and the West have long clashed, with reverberations that resonate to this day. Note on Transliteration Chronology Introduction i 'Ihe Historical Roots of Modern Ukraine 2 Imperial Bureaucrats and Nation Builders 3 Ukraine Enters the Age of Mass Politics 4 the Ukrainian Revolution 5 Soviet Ukraine in the 192os: the Ukrainization Drive 6 Stalinism: Famine and Terror 7 Western Ukrainian Lands between the Wars: 'Ihe Birth of Radical Nationalism 8 Nazi Occupation and the Soviet Victory 9 Ukraine under Stalin's Heirs 1o From Chernobyl to the Soviet Collapse ii Independent Ukraine Epilogue Notes Recommended Reading Glossary Index Photo gallery follows page