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The gates of Europe : a history of Ukraine / Serhii Plokhy.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2015Description: xxiv, 395 pages : maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780465050918 (hardcover)
  • 0465050913 (hardcover)
Subject(s):
Contents:
Maps -- I. On the Pontic Frontier -- 1. The Edge of the World -- 2. The Advent of the Slavs -- 3. Vikings on the Dnieper -- 4. Byzantium North -- 5. The Keys to Kyiv -- 6. Pax Mongolica -- II. East Meets West -- 7. The Making of Ukraine -- 8. The Cossacks -- 9. Eastern Reformations -- 10. The Great Revolt -- 11. The Partitions -- 12. The Verdict of Poltava -- III. Between the Empires -- 13. The New Frontiers -- 14. The Books of the Genesis -- 15. The Porous Border -- 16. On the Move -- 17. The Unfinished Revolution -- IV. The Wars of the World -- 18. The Birth of a Nation -- 19. A Shattered Dream -- 20. Communism and Nationalism -- 21. Stalin's Fortress -- 22. Hitler's Lebensraum -- 23. The Victors -- V. The Road to Independence -- 24. The Second Soviet Republic -- 25. Good Bye, Lenin! -- 26. The Independence Square -- 27. The Price of Freedom -- Epilogue: The Meanings of History -- Historical Timeline -- Who's Who in Ukrainian History -- Glossary.
Scope and content: "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"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 947.7 P729 Available 33111008375186
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe , we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its present and future.

Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that used it as a strategic gateway between East and West -- from the Roman and Ottoman empires to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. For centuries, Ukraine has been a meeting place of various cultures. The mixing of sedentary and nomadic peoples and Christianity and Islam on the steppe borderland produced the class of ferocious warriors known as the Cossacks, for example, while the encounter between the Catholic and Orthodox churches created a religious tradition that bridges Western and Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has also been a home to millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism -- and as one of the killing fields of the Holocaust.

Plokhy examines the history of Ukraine's search for its identity through the lives of the major figures in Ukrainian history: Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalized in the poems of Byron and Pushkin; Nikita Khrushchev and his protege-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev, who called Ukraine their home; and the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, who embody the current struggle over Ukraine's future.

As Plokhy explains, today's crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, as Ukraine once again finds itself in the center of the battle of global proportions. An authoritative history of this vital country, The Gates of Europe provides a unique insight into the origins of the most dangerous international crisis since the end of the Cold War.

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 375-380) and index.

Maps -- I. On the Pontic Frontier -- 1. The Edge of the World -- 2. The Advent of the Slavs -- 3. Vikings on the Dnieper -- 4. Byzantium North -- 5. The Keys to Kyiv -- 6. Pax Mongolica -- II. East Meets West -- 7. The Making of Ukraine -- 8. The Cossacks -- 9. Eastern Reformations -- 10. The Great Revolt -- 11. The Partitions -- 12. The Verdict of Poltava -- III. Between the Empires -- 13. The New Frontiers -- 14. The Books of the Genesis -- 15. The Porous Border -- 16. On the Move -- 17. The Unfinished Revolution -- IV. The Wars of the World -- 18. The Birth of a Nation -- 19. A Shattered Dream -- 20. Communism and Nationalism -- 21. Stalin's Fortress -- 22. Hitler's Lebensraum -- 23. The Victors -- V. The Road to Independence -- 24. The Second Soviet Republic -- 25. Good Bye, Lenin! -- 26. The Independence Square -- 27. The Price of Freedom -- Epilogue: The Meanings of History -- Historical Timeline -- Who's Who in Ukrainian History -- Glossary.

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