Borderland by Anna Reid: Book Cover

    Borderland: Journey Through The History Of The Ukraine by Anna Reid

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    (Paperback)

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    • Publisher: Perseus Publishing
    • Pub. Date: January 2000
    • ISBN-13: 9780813337920
    • Sales Rank: 105,791
    • 272pp
    • Edition Number: 1
     
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    Synopsis

    Borderland tells the story of Ukraine. A thousand years ago it was the center of the first great Slav civilization, Kievan Rus. In 1240, the Mongols invaded from the east, and for the next seven centureies, Ukraine was split between warring neighbors: Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Austrians, and Tatars. Again and again, borderland turned into battlefield: during the Cossack risings of the seventeenth century, Russia’s wars with Sweden in the eighteenth, the Civil War of 1918–1920, and under Nazi occupation. Ukraine finally won independence in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bigger than France and a populous as Britain, it has the potential to become one of the most powerful states in Europe.In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraine’s tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalin’s famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraine’s struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, and embraces all the peoples within its borders.

    Biography

    Anna Reid was the Kiev correspondent for the Economist and the Daily Telegraph and has written for the Washington Post, Financial Times, and the Spectator.

    Customer Reviews

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    • Ratings: 3Reviews: 2

    A lovely primer to the history of this old nation and new stateby Anonymous

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    January 05, 2001: A lyrical, graceful introduction for the non-specialist, telling the history of this nation that became a state less that ten years ago. The book beautifully evokes the past of the 18th and 19th centuries, tells again the incredible brutalities of the Communists and the Nazis, and pulls no punches in its description of the present-day government.

    historical inconsistenciesby Anonymous

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    November 20, 2000: I would like to commend Ms Reid for this excellent book. In general it is well written and easy to follow and some chapters on the Great Famine of 1932/1933 (the Ukrainian Holocaust), the Chornobyl (not the Chernobyl), and the present day economic situation were exceptionally presented. But there are some historical inconsistencied. Just because there was no country called UKRAINE in the 10-th cent, it does not mean that the present day Ukraine is not the inheritor of the Kyevan Rus (refer to historians, such as Hrushevsky, Subtelny, Doroshenko,etc). Same may be said about Ireland (dominated by England for 700 yrs) and Finland (dominated for centuries by Sweden and Russia). The Kyevan Rus of the 10-th cent. was one of the most powerful countries in Europe (it also included Crimea).The state of Muscovy started its beginning in the 12-th cent., and later on in the 17-th cent. changed its name to Russia; it had nothing to do with the Kyevan Rus.After mongolian invasion in the 12-th cent., this state moved West and became the Galycian/Volynian Princedom and under Danylo became kingdom (coronated by the pope in the 13-th cent). This kingdom existed for almost 200 yrs until it was absorbed by Poland/Lithuania. So, by stating that the Ukrainian state did not exist( in the present day Ukrainian territory) prior to 1991, it is historically incorrect. If there were no nationalistically minded Ukrainians prior to 1991,there would be no independent Ukraine today. Ditto for Ireland and Finland. Now if one agrees with Ms Reid statement that there was no independent state prior to 1991, then how could Ukrainians commit pogroms, if they were either under Russians or Poles. If there were any pogroms in the Ukr. territory during these periods, they were committed by the Russian or Polish governments. Also, as far as the Ukrainian writers go, Ms Reid was 'skimpy'; one would get impression, that besides Shevchenko and Franko, there were none. She mentions such names as Rezzori, Celan, Roth and Schudy; these names are unfamiliar in the Ukr. literature and have nothing to do with it. She forgot to mention Fedkowych ( from Bukovyna), Stefanyk, L.Ukrainka, B. Lepky, and many others.The reader assumes that Ms Reid does not converse in Ukrainian and the background info. for the book was either obtained from Russian/Polish sources or from the Russians living in Ukraine.