If asked to write down what I knew of the history of Ukraine, I would not have needed much paper. I remembered a few facts or situations at long intervals, running from the Scythians to the Maidan, bits of information about events separated by anything from a few decades to several hundred years. I don't think that the scantiness of my knowledge made me unusual among Americans who have not specially studied the history of Eastern Europe.
Late last year, my wife bought and read a copy of The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy, who teaches Ukrainian history at Harvard University. When she had finished with it, I read it. This much improved my understanding of Ukraine, and also of its neighbors. At the moment I can give a more or less cogent account of the Kievan Rus', and of its relation with the Norse along the rivers to and from Novgorod; the origin and fortunes of the Cossacks; the career of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; and so on.
The book is well organized and quickly read. The chapters run mostly to ten or a dozen pages, of which one can easily read one or two in an evening. At the front there are ten maps showing boundaries and settlements from the early Greek settlements through the post-2014. The back has suggestions for further reading, quite extensive and all in English; a timeline of events; a who's who; a glossary; and an index.
No comments:
Post a Comment