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bridgeman98's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Genocide, War, and Violence
sohagan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
mariamwebster's review against another edition
5.0
Serhii Plokhy stop making me cry over the history of my country challenge (i fail every time)
caidyn's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
This wasn't the read I was looking for. It was still good and very informative! I'll revisit it someday when it is what I'm looking for. It's a sweeping history of the Ukraine and how often it changed hands.
trixster33's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Expansive overview of Ukraine from pre 1700s to post USSR
sam12213's review against another edition
fast-paced
2.0
Me oh me oh my what a fucking slog!
Hate to say it but this just wasn't interesting until the last 100 pages or so. Before that, it is an interminable jumble of random names and events that seem barely connected. Plokhy has a tendency to simply take nation states and polities as actors by themselves, presenting them with agency in his narrative, which is the exact opposite of the kinds of histories I like to read.
That is a personal thing, but even then it is bewildering to me how this book does not cite anything - especially as it is written quite academically. Seems like Plokhy is just riding his clout here of being a very eminent historian, but it was still very puzzling.
And yeah overall the worst part of this is that it fundamentally doesn't tell you anything. It's really too brief to serve as an in-depth history, and the moments in which the book does attempt to make a point are quickly undercut because of the incessant need to move on to the next wacky event or character. For the record: this book deals with the entire post-WWII Soviet history of Ukraine in a chapter-and-a-half. That's mad! (Although it is also why the book gets better as it goes along, and the chronological scope narrows and becomes more pointedly focused on the contemporary Ukrainian situation at the time this was published)
Anyway, read this if you know jack shit about Ukraine and love arbitrary collections of names!!
Hate to say it but this just wasn't interesting until the last 100 pages or so. Before that, it is an interminable jumble of random names and events that seem barely connected. Plokhy has a tendency to simply take nation states and polities as actors by themselves, presenting them with agency in his narrative, which is the exact opposite of the kinds of histories I like to read.
That is a personal thing, but even then it is bewildering to me how this book does not cite anything - especially as it is written quite academically. Seems like Plokhy is just riding his clout here of being a very eminent historian, but it was still very puzzling.
And yeah overall the worst part of this is that it fundamentally doesn't tell you anything. It's really too brief to serve as an in-depth history, and the moments in which the book does attempt to make a point are quickly undercut because of the incessant need to move on to the next wacky event or character. For the record: this book deals with the entire post-WWII Soviet history of Ukraine in a chapter-and-a-half. That's mad! (Although it is also why the book gets better as it goes along, and the chronological scope narrows and becomes more pointedly focused on the contemporary Ukrainian situation at the time this was published)
Anyway, read this if you know jack shit about Ukraine and love arbitrary collections of names!!
1yourmom1's review against another edition
5.0
I look forward to the next revision of this text or perhaps even another book more closely covering the last 30 years of Ukraine. The history of the region shed a lot of light on the current war and views of the war throughout the world. I would encourage anyone interested in “why we should support Ukraine” to take the time to pick up this book and read at the very least, the second half of the book.
loar's review against another edition
4.0
Takový jemný rychloúvod do historie Ukrajiny a přilehlého okolí.
K audioknize jen tolik, že mě v druhé půlce štvalo, když vypravěč četl citace z dokumentů s východním přízvukem. (Jo a jak se tam pořád zmiňuje Galicia, tak je to česky Halič, chvíli trvalo, než mi to docvaklo
K audioknize jen tolik, že mě v druhé půlce štvalo, když vypravěč četl citace z dokumentů s východním přízvukem. (Jo a jak se tam pořád zmiňuje Galicia, tak je to česky Halič, chvíli trvalo, než mi to docvaklo