Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine

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But in what form it will emerge from the war – the bloodiest in Europe since 1945 – remains to be seen. Most recently this can be seen in the strong wish and application to join the European Union a few days after the beginning of the full scale war and the rejoicing when the European Union decided to give Ukraine candidate status on 23 June 2022. They had their own state, the Crimean Khanate, from 1441 to 1783 when Russian annexed the peninsula.

When Europe was on its way to the Dark Ages, when it became a point of pride for a royalty to wash oneself 2 times during her life (think Isabella de Castille, 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), in Kievan Rus people were known to be using bathhouses regularly. It would be a strategic and moral failure on the scale of the crushed Hungarian Rising and Prague Spring – and with much less excuse. After 24 February, the day on which Russia invaded Ukraine, I was asking myself what I know about Ukraine and its history. If you find another book to cover the orange revolution, it might even be an advantage that it is published in 1997, in the sense that it is likely to focus more on the Kuchma era and describe what Ukraine was like in the 1990s than a book published more recently will. Anna Reid also changes her mind about the anthem, because it has been sung so often since independence as an anthem which unites the Ukrainians and which is a clear sign of their wish to be free and independent.She read law at Magdalen College, Oxford, and took a master's degree in Russian history and reform economics from London University's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. I note that a number of comments, and reviews, on Goodreads are scathing about the book and its lack of in depth analysis (and accuracy). Also, on the same year, when the referendum asked: “Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine? The equivalents for Germany, France and Britain were one in fifteen, one in seventy-seven and one in 125. After 24 February I decided that I want to know more about this country which is fighting so bravely and resiliently against a much larger hostile and brutal neighbour.

Anna Reid explains that the history of Jews in Ukraine goes back to the Greek colonies at the Black Sea coast which had Jewish traders. When I read the English translation of the text the first time, I was really struck by it, because I thought there could hardly be a text better suited to the current situation. Until fairly recently, the nearest that the country came to independence was the period between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the victory of the Red Army in 1921. Even so there has been often throughout the history an urge to focus on the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture, there were initially difficulties to define a national identity. When Chernobyl exploded, the Ukrainians were kept in the dark about the dangers, and unnecessarily exposed to high levels of radiation.Reid pisze w bardzo przystępny i lekki sposób, nie jest to typowa książka historyczna pisana językiem naukowym, wielką jej zaletą jest kompozycja, świetnie prowadząca nas od X w.