List Price: $19.00 Details

Save: $11.00 (58%)

$3.59 delivery July 12 - 19. Details

Or fastest delivery July 7 - 12. Details

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

[{"displayPrice":"$8.00","priceAmount":8.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"exxNvrMH8JXzxjXh7CMZ%2FR7xDQ%2BpEXyZouV%2FS6ckJ7JPQOZo9LQjiYUrNZU2ejGQ6hD9RBiwobEutMFNFfOFK2zyA81zoaZnci5IJgcmxgGUTexRbAEpIfJmjJuQl590mOxIrHDOleWsIGNiRrVQQnJFiZJkrtNPvoTOlsUke4NFxqkA%2Fhp8Lt1EsdpJbSfA","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$4.92","priceAmount":4.92,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"4","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"92","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Q3xsRjAvEvOedr8hmxcurxeVV0tZmAOzXjsz0XlUp%2BHqHb%2FKXirYtXTAIJjqLwlFGY3S%2FIsW1vtvsO8RsEHbZHc4uFaWPMMQ1jhvi4YXKrLVlZmg7bWzJfo6p3Dm9FhRM6VgwTkOI7OFVJuQNUA9rATNlkiMZ8feviKdKSTFbMWATXwa1gUY9A%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$8.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

AcjBooks

Sold by

AcjBooks

Details

Ships from

AcjBooks

Sold by

AcjBooks

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

FREE delivery July 12 - 15. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Great Time Books

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, Second edition Paperback – June 1, 2002

by Andrew Wilson (Author)

10 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Paperback

"Please retry"

$8.00

$0.94

Paperback
$8.00

11 Used from $0.94 3 New from $8.00

There is a newer edition of this item:

The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, Fifth Edition
$20.00
This title will be released on November 8, 2022.

Enhance your purchase

This book is the most acute, informed, and insightful account of Ukraine and its people available today. Andrew Wilson focuses on the complex relations between Ukraine and Russia and explains the different versions of the past propagated by Ukrainians and Russians. He also examines the continuing debates over identity, culture, and religion in Ukraine since its independence in 1991. For this new edition, Wilson has brought the text fully up to date to include coverage of the Yushchenko government and the "Gongadze affair."

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

June 1, 2002
Dimensions

5 x 1.15 x 7.75 inches
ISBN-10

0300093098
ISBN-13

978-0300093094
See all details

Special offers and product promotions

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping. Register today

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Andrew Wilson
10
Paperback
$23.95
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 11
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Serhii Plokhy
1,267
Paperback
$12.99 List: $19.99 (35% off)
Get it as soon as Monday, Jul 11
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload video

Customer reviews

5 star		50%
4 star		18%
3 star		32%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

J. Taylor

Short-concise history

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2007

Verified Purchase

"The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation" by Andrew Wilson is a wonderful introduction to a now well-known country and people. Wilson's purpose, somewhat dissimilar to conventional histories, is to trace the development of the nation and draw distinctions between mythology and history.

Russians generally perceive Ukrainians to be a part of their nation, explaining the great sense of loss when, in 1991, Ukraine became independent. Ukrainians consistently make the case that they have a distinct heritage and culture.

Both sides have a significant incentive to invent or shade history to support their respective positions.

Wilson skillfully debunks that retrospective myth-making and concludes that the truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. Over the past several hundred years, there has been significant cross-pollination, generally benefiting both nations.

For a more detailed and traditional history, try "Ukraine: A History" by Orest Subtelny. Paul Robert Magocsi's "A History of Ukraine" is also a competent study. But be warned: they're both 800 pages long.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Truth Teller

Recent Historical Perspective

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2006

Although the book spans a long period of time, it provides the most useful detail on the post independence period that has had the most impact on the US and the world post Soviet Union.

In that regard, the author does capture some of the challenges in the current situation and the importance of the battle of a westward looking nation that is the second largest in Europe. But in Ukraine in the post Orange Revolution, one does hear Ukrainian spoken more whereas under the Soviets, jail time for doing so was possible.

The book doesn't provide the detail on some of the controversial aspects such as the battle for survivial against collectivization and the Soviet man made famine that Robert Conquest documented in his book "Harvest of Sorrow." The impact of the Soviet murder of SEVEN to TEN million people, 25% of the nation's population, has left a scar on the nation that is only being discussed openly for the first time. A small memorial in the center of Kiev has been erected and certainly is less costly than any US based memorial to the victims of Stalinism.

Although the country has achieved its independence there are many problems in addressing its history as its had to fight external and internal enemies who have often sided with invaders. In the case of Western Ukraine, WWII brought about the first opportunity to rise up against the slaughter and genocide of millions of their countrymen in 1933. The NKVD, and its secret police predecessors was comprised largely of local Jewish nonprofessionals. There was no mercy shown to their neighbors in imposing communism and the following genocidal famine that followed. The story of the NKVD and of the communists secret police has never been told in Ukraine. Someday it will.

During WWII, Jewish doctors joined the Ukrainian partisan army to fight against the Soviets and Germans. As a country fighting the two biggest enemies of freedom in the 20th century, it wasn't an easy task but lasted into the 1950s.

As the accounting for the Soviet mass murder has hardly even started. It's unfortunate that the desire to build a memorial to its victims in the US would meet opposition. Particularly when the story of those who enforced and were complicit in the genocide on behalf of the Soviet evil have yet to be brought to account.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Michael Samerdyke

An Impressive Accomplishment

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2002

This book tries to do two jobs, and it does them both very well.
The first task is to explain the history of the Ukrainian national idea. It is not really a history of the nation, but more of a history of how the consciousness that there was a people and nation came into existance. (In other words, he does not go into a lot of detail about cossack revolts and wars and the like, but he shows how these affected the way people thought.) Wilson does a trememdous job here.
The second task of the book is to see what the Ukrainians have made of their independence since 1991. This is extremely important, since the American media has generally ignored Ukraine since independence and focused solely on Russia. I had a little trouble following all of Wilson's material here, since I had so little foundation on what has happened in Ukraine recently. However, Wilson presents his facts clearly, and where possible makes useful comparisons to developments in Russia, Czech Rep., Poland, etc., so I could get a handle on things.
In short, this is simply a superb book, one that will take the reader very far in understanding Ukraine and the challenges before it.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

John T C

A divide steeped in history

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2007

This book goes a long way towards explaining the complexity of Ukraine, a nation that is divided in accepting or rejecting the different identities the world knows of it. Is it the cradle of Russian civilization that includes present day Ukraine, Russia and Belarus or is it the frontier(eastern Ukraine in particular) where eastern Slavs (progenitors of Ukrainians, Russians and Belarussians) escaped to from suppressive powers of overlords (Poland and Russian princes, or is it the center where a new set of Russians-western Ukriane (Ukrainians or Ruthenians or Little Russians) came into being from the amalgamation of foreign influences (Polish, Lithuanian, Slovakian, Austria,Hungarian etc)?

From Gogol's work-Taras Bulba, one can get a picture of how easterners view themselves as Ukrainians (orthodox,eastern slavonic who fraternalise with their other eastern slavonic brothers) and who have been prominent in Russian or east slavic history(Yermak, Krushchev, Breshnev etc). Union Moujik as a story gives a clearer picture of the divide. Two brothers in the same house with one brother stressing on their roots and those they share common roots with(east), and the other brother attaching importance to the influences picked up in the past(west)

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Judy in Ontario

The book was delivered ahead of schedule and in excellent condition. I am a ukrainian canadian and wanted ...

Reviewed in Canada on November 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

The book was delivered ahead of schedule and in excellent condition. I am a ukrainian canadian and wanted to learn more about my slavic heritage and this book has got it covered! I am exceedingly pleased with this purchase.

See all reviews