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. }
Borderland: A Journey through the History of Ukraine
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UKRAINA is literally translated as 'on the edge' or 'borderland', and that is exactly what it is. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
UKRAINA is literally translated as 'on the edge' or 'borderland', and that is exactly what it is. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book thinking it was a travel book, expecting to find descriptions of mountains, forests and adventures with bears and strange people. Instead it is a comprehensive history of an eastern European crossroads, an area that has been involved in very many political expansions, empires and revolutions. I'd never before seen this important chunk of history centred on this part of the world; I was amazed at how Anna Reid's very readable account made sense of many events about which I'd previously read as peripheral events.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
After reading this book I felt very emotional. Most of the featured events are not news for me, I was their at the time the book was published and had good post USSR history teachers. But this book is different because it is written by someone from the outside who is able to see a bigger picture and not blinded by feelings. Everything described very truthfully - the pretty and the ugly. A lot happened in Ukraine since. The journalist Gongandze was murdered, The Orange Revolution, the dioxin poisoning of Victor Yushchenko, the election of the currant embarrassing president and Julia Timoshenko's trial. I have been living in the UK for the last 10 years and would love to read more from a writer like Anna Reid on what the hell is going on there? Where is it all going? The western press is very brief, I don't trust ukrainian publications. Anna, PLEASE WRITE MORE!
By Chris Winter
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Odd sort of combination of a wander round Ukraine with bits of history thrown in. Nice and easy to read but not really the one if you are looking for a history of Ukraine.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A readable introduction to a subject on which there is not a lot of...
The author traveled extensively in the Ukraine shortly after its independence from the USSR. She provides an interesting introduction to the state of the country at that time along... Read more
Published 2 months ago by G E Turner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
Bought this as had seen the other good reviews on Amazon. Lived up to the expectations and reviews. Was a really good and impartial view of life in the Ukraine going through its... Read more
Published 2 months ago by DaveM
4.0 out of 5 stars
A beginner's guide
This book makes sense of Ukraine for the uninitiated. It is thoroughly readable. The approach is to separate the different parts of Ukraine, each of which has its own history,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by KR
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really a Borderland
One of the best books I've read in a long time. A sympathetic account that covers the good and the bad; Kievan Rus, Batu Kahn, Poland /Lithuania, Austro Hungarian Galicia, Jews,... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Baraniecki Mark Stuart
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful popular introduction to the history of Ukraine up to 1997
This is one of those books that if you write a review to it, you are bound to get counter-reviews from someone out there that belive you should have the same opinion on this book... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2009 by Jan Øystein Thorsnæs
1.0 out of 5 stars
Decidedly Disappointing--riddled with biased, subjective personal...
Looking at the cover of this book, I immediately thought to myself that this is not Ukraine--not as I know her! Read more
Published on 20 July 2008 by Yaroslava Benko
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