Andrew Wilson is Senior Lecturer in Ukrainian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London.
"In this excellent guide, Wilson charts the history of Ukrainian nationalism over the centuries, and examines the ways in which Ukrainians have understood their culture, myths, history, and politics as specifically Ukrainian. Wilson has succeeded admirably in providing a detailed and judicious study of the current ideas that make up Ukrainian national identity." Virginia Quarterly Review "A lively, detailed, and eminently sensible exploration of who the Ukrainians are and why they are important... required reading for anyone with a serious interest in Eastern Europe." Anna Reid, Literary Review "A sweeping introductory examination of Ukrainian identity and history... An exceptional history, the kind that supplies not pat answers but food for thought within a lush context of documented and mythological past." Kirkus Reviews "A fresh, objective look at Ukrainian identity, which explores the many past and present possibilities that continue to confront this 'unexpected nation'." Choice
"In this excellent guide, Wilson charts the history of Ukrainian nationalism over the centuries, and examines the ways in which Ukrainians have understood their culture, myths, history, and politics as specifically Ukrainian. Wilson has succeeded admirably in providing a detailed and judicious study of the current ideas that make up Ukrainian national identity." Virginia Quarterly Review "A lively, detailed, and eminently sensible exploration of who the Ukrainians are and why they are important... required reading for anyone with a serious interest in Eastern Europe." Anna Reid, Literary Review "A sweeping introductory examination of Ukrainian identity and history... An exceptional history, the kind that supplies not pat answers but food for thought within a lush context of documented and mythological past." Kirkus Reviews "A fresh, objective look at Ukrainian identity, which explores the many past and present possibilities that continue to confront this 'unexpected nation'." Choice
Since the 1990s, journalists, academics, politicians and the public have groped for some sense of the history, culture and politics of emerging, post-communist independent statesÄCroatia, Macedonia, Slovakia, Belarus, Slovenia and the like. In 1991 Ukraine joined the ranks of these new states and emerged as a pivotal player in the new alignment of Eurasian politics. Wilson, a lecturer in Ukrainian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of University College in London, provides a comprehensive overview (more scholarly than popular) of Ukraine's history, focusing on questions of national identity and describing Ukraine as a recent invention as a nation. For Ukraine, he suggests, national identity revolves around the complex and fluctuating relation between Ukraine and Russia, from the contested views of medieval Kievan Rus and its national origins (Ukrainian or Russian or both?), to the troubles faced by a modern Ukraine with a significant Russian and Russian-speaking population. Wilson presents Ukraine as a cultural construct, a creation of both Ukrainian and Russian imagination and politics; as a result, the book will displease those who dismiss poststructuralist views of national identity. Still, thorough, rigorous and informative, Wilson's survey promises to sharpen Westerners' perceptions of the surviving East-West divide along the European and Russian border. Because it is "a vital `swing' state" in Eastern Europe, Ukraine's past and future, Wilson convincingly argues, should very much concern us. Illus. not seen by PW. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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