Title: The gates of Europe : a history of Ukraine /
Authors: Plokhy, Serhii, 1957-
Year: 2015
Subjects: HISTORY / Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union.; HISTORY / Europe / Eastern.; HISTORY / Europe / Former Soviet Republics.; HISTORY / Europe / General.; Ukraine History.; Ukraine
Abstract: "From one of the foremost experts on Ukraine and the former USSR, a concise, authoritative history of Ukraine. Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense battle with Russia to preserve its economic and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's existence as a sovereign nation. As award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its fraught present and likely future. Situated between Europe, Russia, and the Asian East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that have used it as a strategic gateway between East and West--from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, all have engaged in global fights for supremacy on Ukrainian soil. Each invading army left a lasting mark on the landscape and on the population, making modern Ukraine an amalgam of competing cultures. Authoritative and vividly written, The Gates of Europe will be the definitive history of Ukraine for years to come"--
Contents: On the Pontic frontier. The edge of the world ; The advent of the Slavs ; Vikings on the Dnieper ; Byzantium north ; The keys to Kyiv ; Pax mongolica -- East meets West. The making of Ukraine ; The cossacks ; Eastern reformations ; The Great Revolt ; The partitions ; The verdict of Poltava -- Between the empires. The new frontiers ; The books of the genesis ; The porous border ; On the move ; The unfinished revolution -- The wars of the world. The birth of a nation ; A shattered dream ; Communism and nationalism ; Stalin's fortress ; Hitler's Lebensraum ; The victors -- The road to independence. The second Soviet republic ; Farewell to the empire ; Independence at last! ; The price of freedom -- The meanings of history -- Historical timeline -- Who's who in Ukrainian history.