A vigorous polemic in the classical sense of that word a sharply focused argument in support of a debatable point of view.

When I started this journey into the books, I did have this ‘little dream’ of one day being recognised as an Historian. Naaa, I ain’t the slightest chance of standing beside people such as Professor Serhii Plokhy (the author), a Ukrainian. An Historian. In 1934 Walter Duranty, a reporter for the New York Times, privately reported to the British embassy in Moscow that as many as 10 million people may have died, directly or indirectly, from the famine in the Soviet Union (predominantly Ukrainian ethnographic regions) in the previous year. One should know that Duranty played a major role in shielding this massive horror from the rest of the world. The terror famine in Ukraine was one of the great crimes of the 20th century. Ukraine’s performance after leaving the Soviet Union was a remarkably bad, industrial production fell 48%, GDP fell 60%, half the population had barely the money to buy their food, and three million citizens left the country. The industrial sector, largely steel, had relied on Russian natural gas supplies. Ukrainian runaway inflation reached 2,500% in 1992. What an ad for capitalism. This book makes no attempt to explain why Ukraine went so fast downhill. Russians are 48% of Ukraine’s Donetsk population. President Yanukovych was the last Ukrainian President sympathetic to Russians within the Ukraine. Russia annexed the Crimea in March 2014.This book talks about the loss of the Crimea and Donbas but makes no attempt to explain the conflict. In 2019, Zelensky takes over the Ukraine Presidency. A cumulation of short stories that provide us with a history of an extraordinary country, culture and people. Told in, my nescient view, a most entertaining and engrossing fashion.

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As Plokhy explains, today's crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, as Ukraine once again finds itself in the center of the battle of global proportions. An authoritative history of this vital country, The Gates of Europe provides a unique insight into the origins of the most dangerous international crisis since the end of the Cold War. At different points in its history the Swedes, Hapsburgs, Vikings, Huns, Mongols, Russians, Germans, Poles, and the Ottoman Empire ruled parts of Ukraine. Plokhy (history, Harvard Univ.; The Last Empire) expertly covers the complicated and dizzying history of Ukraine, starting when Neanderthals first arrived in the area, and discusses what it means to be Ukrainian. The early beginnings of Kyivian-Rus can be difficult to follow, featuring an ever-changing group of players and territory; an included historical time line provides perspective. Religious, linguistic, and cultural influences that impacted the development of Ukrainian identity are explored, as are the devastating famines, atrocious wars, and politics that influenced everything from independence to the Orange Revolution and the recent Revolution of Dignity. VERDICT The timeframe and subjects covered here are extraordinary; although this is more an overall survey than an in-depth resource, students, academics, and readers with a general knowledge of Ukraine will appreciate. Alternatively, chapters can be read independently, allowing those with a strong interest in the subject to focus on a specific era of Ukraine's history.—Zebulin Evelhoch, Central Washington Univ. Lib. Library Journal Per Plokhy, la cui narrazione compendia al suo interno l’approccio hrushevskyano (Mykhailo Hrushevsky è stato il fondatore della moderna storiografia ucraina ed è lo storico cui è intitolato l’Istituto di Ricerca di Harvard di cui Plokhy è l’attuale Direttore) e i moderni approcci transnazionali che enfatizzano il carattere multietnico dello stato ucraino, centrale è il concetto di Europa. Il libro di Plokhy cerca di rispondere a questi interrogativi andando alla radice di molti degli attuali problemi, nella speranza “che la storia possa fornire chiavi di lettura per il presente e influenzare il futuro”. Prof. Serhii Plokhy an erudite, careful and discerning researcher of primary sources, has written brilliantly on Eastern European and Eurasian history. This book is somewhat different. It is written for the general reading public, and therefore requires a different approach, a bit more excitement. After all, Ukrainian History is explosively exciting!

I said, in my review of ‘The History of Ukraine and …’, “If you want to understand why things are as they are in Ukraine today, read this.” I don’t want to get political, I’m far too busy bashing the books, but … maybe one of the few good things that will come from what that horrid man did when invading this incredible country is that we in the West will learn more of the monumental place Ukraine claims in the history of Europe.L’Ucraina contemporanea, considerata dal punto di vista delle tendenze culturali di lungo periodo, è un prodotto dell’interazione di due frontiere in movimento, una delimitata dalla linea tra le steppe eurasiatiche e i parchi dell’Europa orientale, l’altra definita dalla frontiera tra Cristianesimo orientale e occidentale. La prima frontiera era anche quella tra popolazioni sedentarie e nomadi e, alla fine, tra Cristianesimo e Islam. La seconda risale alla divisione dell’impero romano tra Roma e Costantinopoli e segna le differenze di cultura politica tra Europa orientale e occidentale che esistono ancora oggi”.