Borderland: A Journey Through the History of the Ukraine

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. } In this beautifully written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraine's tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalin's 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 shanty-towns of Crimea, Reid explores Ukraine's struggle to build itself a national identity, an identity that faces up to a bloody past and embraces all the peoples within its borders. The paperback edition is fully updated to include recent events in Ukraine, including the presidential election in October of 1999. The New Jerusalem: Kiev -- Poles And Cossacks: Kamyanets Podilsky -- The Russian Sea: Donetsk And Odessa -- The Books Of Genesis: Lviv -- A Meaningless Fragment: Chernivtsi -- The Great Hunger: Matussiv And Lukovytsya -- The Vanished Nation: Ivano-frankivsk -- The Wart On Russia's Nose: Crimea -- The Empire Explodes: Chernobyl -- Europe Or Little Russia: Ukraina. Anna Reid. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 246-247) And Index.