In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraines tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalins famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraines ...
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In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraines tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalins famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraines struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, and embraces all the peoples within its borders. } Borderland tells the story of Ukraine. A thousand years ago it was the center of the first great Slav civilization, Kievan Rus. In 1240, the Mongols invaded from the east, and for the next seven centureies, Ukraine was split between warring neighbors: Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Austrians, and Tatars. Again and again, borderland turned into battlefield: during the Cossack risings of the seventeenth century, Russias wars with Sweden in the eighteenth, the Civil War of 19181920, and under Nazi occupation. Ukraine finally won independence in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bigger than France and a populous as Britain, it has the potential to become one of the most powerful states in Europe.In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraines tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalins famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraines struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, and embraces all the peoples within its borders. }
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This engaging, intelligent narrative is a wonderful introduction to the history and background of modern Ukrain, the borderland between east and west, Catholic and Orthodox, Jew and Christian, Tatar, Pole, and Russian peoples and cultures. The author is honest about the violent and often cruel history of what is now the new nation of Ukraine, yet maintains her sympathy and admiration for the struggles of all the Ukrainian peoples -- the ethnic Ukranians and other Slavs as well as the important minority groups (Jews, Poles, Tatars and others). I read her book after a brief visit to Ukraine to see my son, who is serving in the Peace Corps there. The author gave me a perspective in depth on the Ukrainian peoples and cultures. I recommend it highly.
avidreader45
Jun 28, 2007
A unexpected nice suprise!
I'm picky on books,more a fictional reader,too. However, have family in Ukraine,and visited and found this book wonderful in explaining the changing boundaries,history and doing a great job piecing it all together for me.. I actually bought it for my brother-in-law,but had to get him another copy as I could not quit reading this one.Not only did I read it through once, but found myself re-reading sections. It's also easy to pick it up at bedtime and reread a page or two again, as I seemed to understand more each time. Lots of changing of hands of Ukraine.Then I had to buy a third as my 18 and 21 year girls kept "borowing" my copy. Did not find it a" dry read "either asthere are person conversations of locals included.Highly recommend. Strangely,as new people walk by it in the house,they are drawn to pickig it up and taking a look.
