The Cossack myth
Subtitle: history and nationhood in the age of empires
By: Serhii Plokhy
Series: New studies in European history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 408
ISBN-13: 9781107022102
Subjects: Historiography; Cossacks; Relations; Istorii︠a︡ Rusov; Sources; Imperialism; HISTORY / Europe / General; Folklore; Authorship; Nationalism; History
Description: "In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, a mysterious manuscript began to circulate among the dissatisfied noble elite of the Russian Empire. Entitled 'The History of the Rus,' it became one of the most influential historical texts of the modern era. Attributed to an eighteenth-century Orthodox archbishop, it described the heroic struggles of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexander Pushkin read the book as a manifestation of Russian national spirit, but Taras Shevchenko interpreted it as a quest for Ukrainian national liberation and it would inspire thousands of Ukrainians to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Serhii Plokhy tells the fascinating story of the text's discovery and dissemination unravelling the mystery of its authorship and tracing its subsequent impact on Russian and Ukrainian historical and literary imagination. In so doing he brilliantly illuminates the relationship between history, myth, empire and nationhood from Napoleonic times to the fall of the Soviet Union"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. The Mystery; title: A call for freedom; title: The Cossack annals; title: The birth of the myth; title: Part II. On a Cold Trail; title: A noble heart; title: The Cossack prince; title: The Kyiv manuscript; title: Part III. Pieces of a Puzzle; title: A matter of time; title: Uncovering the motive; title: How did he do it?; title: The Cossack treasure; title: Part IV. Unusual Suspects; title: People and places; title: The Cossack aristocrats; title: The liberated gentry; title: A history teacher; title: Part V. Whodunit?; title: A missing name; title: Family matters; title: The rivals; title: Epilogue; title: Appendix: Cossack family networks.