Books from Ukraine
The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity, part of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
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2024Where is Russia Heading?
by Jens Siegert
Vladimir Putin has been ruling Russia for 25 years. There is no end in sight to his dictatorship. He relies on repression at home and is waging a war of destruction against a neighbouring country. The conflict with the West has long become a systemic conflict between an illiberal-autocratic ideology and liberal-democratic principles. Nothing will change as long as Putin remains in power. Nevertheless, as far as can be ascertained under unfree conditions, the majority of the population seems to be supporting Putin. Does this mean that too many people in Russia do not want democracy or peace? Will everything remain the same after Putin? Or is there a chance that Russia will eventually take a different, more democratic path? Whatever the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia is not going to disappear. We will still have to deal with our big neighbour in the east. This makes it all the more important to focus on longer-term developments. As a recognised expert on Russian history and society, the author outlines what the post-Putin era might look like. His in-depth analysis makes it clear that Russia is partly Putin, but Putin is not everything about Russia.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2021Behind the Scenes of the Empire: Essays on Cultural Relationships between Ukraine and Russia
by Vira Ageyeva
Much has already been written about Ukrainian-Russian relations in the context of Russian interests and priorities. Russia unceremoniously ennobled its history with other people's achievements while depriving Ukrainians of their past. From the Ukrainian's perspective, the story is completely different. For centuries Ukrainian literature has been involved in the anti-colonial discourse. From Kotlyarevsky, Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Kharkiv romantics to the era of modernism and eventually the emergence of contemporary Ukraine, it offered various models of identity, denying imperial claims and asserting its own cultural sufficiency. In this book, the authoritative literary critic Vira Ageyeva analyses the Ukrainian resistance to imperialism and the struggle of Ukraine for the preservation of it's collective memory through the prism of the cultural process.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2022The Moscow Factor: US Policy toward Sovereign Ukraine and the Kremlin
by Eugene M. Fishel
24 February 2022 was not the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine. Back in 2014, Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, bolstered a separatist conflict in the Donbas region, and attacked Ukraine with units of its regular army and special forces. In each instance of Russian aggression, the U.S. response has often been criticized as inadequate, insufficient, or hesitant. The Moscow Factor: U.S. Policy toward Sovereign Ukraine and the Kremlin is a unique study that examines four key Ukraine-related policy decisions across two Republican and two Democratic U.S. administrations. Author Eugene M. Fishel asks whether, how, and under what circumstances Washington has considered Ukraine’s status as a sovereign nation in its decision-making regarding relations with Moscow. This study situates the stance of the United States toward Ukraine in the broader context of international relations. It fills an important lacuna in existing scholarship and policy discourse by focusing on the complex trilateral—rather than simply bilateral—dynamics among the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, in 1991–2016. This book brings together for the first time documentary evidence and declassified materials dealing with policy deliberation, retrospective articles authored by former policymakers, and formal memoirs by erstwhile senior officials. The study is also supplemented by open-ended interviews with former and returning officials.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2022Germany's Russia problem
The struggle for balance in Europe
by John Lough
The relationship between Germany and Russia is Europe's most important link with the largest country on the continent. But despite Germany's unparalleled knowledge and historical experience, its policymakers struggle to accept that Moscow's efforts to rebalance Europe at the cost of the cohesion of the EU and NATO are an attack on Germany's core interests. This book explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany in managing relations with a changing Russia. It analyses how successive German governments from 1991 to 2014 misread Russian intentions, until Angela Merkel sharply recalibrated German and EU policy towards Moscow. The book also examines what lies behind efforts to revise Merkel's bold policy shift, including attitudes inherited from the GDR and the role of Russian influence channels in Germany.
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Humanities & Social Sciences2014History of Ukraine from KGB Secret Files
by Volodymyr Viatrovych
The unknown and classified KGB history of the largest country in Europe - Ukraine is the history of people, events, documents and files. The files have answers to many questions. The most important of which - why did a war begin again in Europe? Why is it so important for Russia to conquer Ukraine? Why are Ukrainians putting up such a powerful resistance? Historian Volodymyr Viatrovych, who declassified the secret archives of the Soviet special services from the Cheka to the KGB, talks about the history of Ukraine, the USSR and Eastern Europe from 1918 to 1991. The reader, is offered, along with various heroes and traitors, those who thought they were in control of events, and those who thought they had no power over them, to recreate the nearly century-old chess game between the Ukrainian liberation movement and the creators of the "prison of nations." Described in reports and recreated by a historian, this work looks at the cunning “special operations”, deadly moves, information wars and complex games among several players that are all an attempt to find an answer to the question: what creates our destiny - human will or circumstances?
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Children's & YAJanuary 2022Keksyk Defender
by Inna Kurylo (Author), Oleksandra Kondratenko (Illustrator)
Not only people, but also pets stood up for the defense of Ukraine in the war against Russia! Together with his animal friends, Keksyk the cat organized a Territorial Defense force for the yard and helped people as best as he could. Together with Keksyk, many animals protect Ukraine: the dog Shustryk, the crow Ksenia, the pigeon Stepan, geese and bees. And now that you know of Keksyk do you want to learn why the missile system is called "Stugna"? And why the enemies were unable to overcome the Zmiev ramparts and disappeared without a trace in Chornobayivka? Then, the adventures of Keksyk and his friends bravely defending their native country are right for you! And while you read, remember that these tales are based on real events. From 5 to 8 years, 8596 words Rightsholders: svidoma@ukr.net
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Humanities & Social Sciences2020Zero Point Ukraine
by Olena Stiazhkina
The Western understanding of what happened in Ukraine during World War II has been shaped by historical and ideological narratives created by the Kremlin. The Ukrainian version of the story has been dissolved in the concept of the “great victorious Russian people” and distorted by attempts to equate Ukrainian national army to German Nazis, while the occupation and colonisation of Ukraine by Russian Bolsheviks in the 1920s and 1930s has widely been ignored or artificially silenced. In her Four Essays on World War II, Olena Stiazhkina inscribes the Ukrainian history of the war into a wider European and world context. Amongst other aspects, she analyzes the mobilization measures on the eve of the war, thus questioning Soviet narratives. Scrutinising the social and political processes initiated by the Bolshevik leadership in the 1920s and 1930s, Stiazhkina concludes that mobilisation and militarisation were integral parts of Soviet power policy. The Soviet and contemporary Russian narratives about World War II have been used to justify the Kremlin’s policies towards democratic countries. Today, Russia remains deeply engaged in the falsification of the past, which underpins the claims of the so-called “Russian World” and the ongoing war against Ukraine. Olena Stiazhkina’s book promotes a new, historically adequate understanding of what happened in Ukraine before, during, and after World War II.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2020The European Union and its eastern neighbourhood
Europeanisation and its twenty-first-century contradictions
by Mike Mannin, Paul Flenley
This volume is timely in that it explores key issues which are currently at the forefront of the EU's relations with its eastern neighbours. It considers the impact of a more assertive Russia, the significance of Turkey, the limitations of the Eastern Partnership with Belarus and Moldova, the position of a Ukraine in crisis and pulled between Russia and the EU, security and democracy in the South Caucasus. It looks at the contested nature of European identity in areas such as the Balkans. In addition it looks at ways in which the EU's interests and values can be tested in sectors such as trade and migration. The interplay between values, identity and interests and their effect on the interpretation of europeanisation between the EU and its neighbours is a core theme of the volume.
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Children's & YA2022We Don't Need War
by Maryana Horyanska (Author), Victor Koriahin (Illustrator)
In the format of a spelling book, We Don't Need War tells children about universal values that now help Ukrainians to survive, stay together and defeat the enemy. Thus, children can not only learn letters and new words but also understand what kind of human qualities and actions can save the world. Readers will learn more about Ukraine and the actions of real heroes from the frontline to the cities near them. From 6 to 9 years, 1337 words, Rightsholders: Maria Pankratova, maria.pankratova@ranok.com.ua
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December 2013The Evolution of Soviet Union and National Issues Research
by Wei SHANG
The evolution of Soviet Union has a close relationship with national issues,but national issues can’t be regarded alone,because the formulation and solution of national issues are connected with specific stages of social development.So we should summarize the experiences and learn lessons from the past.
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Memoirs202277 days of February. Ukraine between two symbolic dates of the Russian war ideology
by Marichka Paplauskaite (Compiler), Authors: Inna Adrug, Anna Argirova, Kateryna Babkina, Tetyana Bezruk, Oleksandra Gorchynska, Inna Zolotukhina, Vera Kuriko, Olena Livytska, Olga Livytska, Svitlana Oslavska, Marichka Paplauskaite, Eva Raiska, Anya Semenyuk, Zoya Khramchenko, Margarita Chimyris, Iryna Yaroshynska
As a child, she could not understand why people in films about the blockade of Leningrad were always lying down. And when Mariupol was besieged by the Russians, and she and her husband lived for many days without water, food and heat under constant shelling, she realized that when you lie down, you save strength and energy. "77 Days of February" included reports written by journalists of the Reporters media in the period between February 23 and May 9 — two symbolic dates for Russian military ideology. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine stopped the number of days and pushed Ukrainians back to the intervening time, where February — the month of the beginning of the great war — still lasts. In the meantime and in these candid stories, there is pain, fear, hatred, and sometimes despair. But the main thing is hope. This is a bare nerve and an honest voice of the new Ukrainian reality.
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Humanities & Social SciencesNovember 2024US public diplomacy in socialist Yugoslavia, 1950–70
Soft culture, cold partners
by Carla Konta
The first comprehensive account of the public and cultural diplomacy campaigns carried out by the US in Yugoslavia during the height of the Cold War, this book examines the political role of culture in US-Yugoslav bilateral relations and the fluid links between information and propaganda. Tito allowed the US Information Agency and the State Department's cultural programmes to enter Yugoslavia, liberated from Soviet control. The exchange of intellectual and political personnel helped foster the US-Yugoslav relationship, yet it posed severe ideological challenges for both sides. By providing new insights into porous borders between freedom and coercion in Tito's regime, this book shows how public diplomacy acted as an external input for Yugoslav liberalisation and dissident movements. Using extensive archival research and interviews, Konta analyses the links between information and propaganda, and the unintended effects of propaganda beyond the control of producers and receivers.
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The ArtsSeptember 2022SUBСONSCIOUS ART. ARTISTIC REFLECTIONS. UKRAINE AFTER 2013
by Olesia Gerashchenko (Shambur)
The book contains over fifty interviews with artists, curators, and art critics, who talk about their reactions to contemporary events in Ukraine as citizens and as artists. Together with the author, they reflect on creative response of the modern art community to the events in Ukraine during the Revolution of Dignity and the war with Russia (before the full-scale invasion) and the role of art and artists in conflict. The book includes over 100 reproductions of visual works that have been provided by the courtesy of artists, Ukrainian museums, and private galleries.“Artists who record the overstrain of the present leave behind the artifacts for future cultural archaeologists. Socially engaged artists practice art because they understand the urgency of the situation, but even those artists who claim that they do not address the theme of war demonstrate the opposite in their works. It is this zone of conscious and subconscious artistic influence that creates the environment of this book.” — Olesya Gerashchenko (Shambur)
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Historical fiction2021Bat-Ami by Oleksiy Nikitin
by Oleksii Nikitin
Ilya Goldinov, Ukrainian Jew boxing champion, had won the second place in the Soviet All-Union championship when World War II started. After Germany invaded Ukraine, he joins the guerrillas in the forests behind the front line. Only by a lucky coincidence does he survive and he joins the regular army as a soldier before being sent by the secret service on a life-threatening mission to occupied Kyiv. This family saga, full of inconceivable twists and turns, is told in such a thrilling, detailed and touching way that it captivates its readers after only a few pages. Bat-Ami is not a documentary novel, but its story is inspired in part by the author‘s family recollections and is based on the documentary files relating to 1941-42 secret service operations from the archives of the Ukrainian Secret Service released only in 2011, as well as from other Ukrainian archives, in particular the Museum of the Dynamo Kyiv Sports Club and Yad Vashem organisation. The fight of Ukrainian patriots for independence of Ukraine from Russia, the USSR, and liberation from German occupiers captures your attention and can become the vital lesson for present-day Ukraine.
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Children's & YAJanuary 2019The War and Little Veera
by Julia Kosivchik (Author), Julia Kosivchik (Illustrator)
The War and Little Veera tells of the monster War, who brazenly interferes in the lives of children and feeds on their toys and laughter. Nonetheless, little Veera still manages to defeat the horror. The monster War representes the events of Russia's military aggression in the eastern regions of Ukraine in 2014, and the book is full of optimism and confidence that light will always come after the darkness. To further celebrate young readers the book is full of interesting games and tasks. It is an ideal reading for children of preschool and primary school age. From 5 to 8 years , 4841 words. Rightsholders: info@bukrek.net
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2006Securitising Russia
The domestic politics of Vladimir Putin
by Bettina Renz, Edwin Bacon, Julian Cooper
Securitising Russia shows the impact of twenty-first-century security concerns on the way Russia is ruled. It demonstrates how President Putin has wrestled with terrorism, immigration, media freedom, religious pluralism, and economic globalism, and argues that fears of a return to old-style authoritarianism oversimplify the complex context of contemporary Russia. The book focuses on the internal security issues common to many states in the early twenty-first-century, and places them in the particular context of Russia. Detailed analysis of the place of security in Russia's political discourse and policy-making reveals nuances often missing from overarching assessments of Russia today. To characterise the Putin regime as the 'KGB-resurgent' is to miss vital continuities, contexts, and on-going political conflicts which make up the contemporary Russian scene. Securitising Russia draws together current debates about whether Russia is a 'normal' country developing its own democratic and market structures, or a nascent authoritarian regime returning to the past. ;
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History2019250 years of lies: Russian myths about the history of Crimea
by Serhii Hromenko
The book analyses more than 20 Russian myths fabricated to legitimise the annexation of Crimea. The annexation of the Ukrainian peninsular of Crimea by Russia in 2014 caused the largest political crisis in Europe since the Second World War. It also gave rise to the unprecedented growth of propaganda to justify the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation in the eyes of the world. Is Crimea really an original Russian land? Is it true that the Crimean Tatars are all traitors? Was the peninsula really integrated into Ukraine illegally? And what, after all, were the events of February–March 2014–the illegal occupation of the foreign territory or the “restoration of historical justice”?
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Humanities & Social Sciences1996An Essay on the History of Ukraine. Formation of the Modern Nation in the 19th-20th centuries
by Yaroslav Hrytsak
The first edition of this book was published in 1996. It can also be called the first popular history of Ukraine, which, according to the author, can be "read without bromine" and which affirms the fundamental normality of Ukrainian history. The new edition corrects some inaccuracies and errors of previous editions, as well as adds new sections, including a section on the last two decades of independent Ukraine, up to the time of the 2013-2014 revolution, the war with Russia and the election weeks of 2019.
