10 Books in English about the Ukrainian History
Were you wondering where to read about the history of Ukraine? We have prepared a list of books that will help you better understand Ukraine’s processes.
- Serhii Plokhy The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine 2015, 395 p.
Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires – Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg to Russian – and they all left their imprint on the landscape, the language, and the people living within these shifting borders.
Harvard Professor Serhii Plokhy traces in this work the history of Ukraine from the Kyivan Rus in the tenth century to the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.
- Serhii Plokhy Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past 2008, 391 p.
In Ukraine and Russia, Serhii Plokhy discusses many questions fundamental to the formation of modern Russian and Ukrainian historical identity. He investigates the critical role of history in developing modern national identities and offers historical and cultural insight into the current state of relations between the two nations.
- Timothy Snyder The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 2003, 367 p.
In this work, Timothy Snyder traces the emergence of Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Belarusian nationhood over four centuries.
- Tymothy Snider Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin 2012, 560 p.
This book opens the terrible WWII suffering in Eastern Europe and Baltic countries that explains the level of resistance against Russian aggression in these states nowadays.
- Paul Robert Magocsi Ukraine: An Illustrated History 2007, 352 p.
This book is an indispensable resource for people interested in Ukraine’s political, economic, and cultural developments.
Each of the book’s forty-six chapters is framed by a historical map, which graphically depicts the key elements of the chronological period or theme addressed within. In addition, over 300 historic photographs, line drawings, portraits, and reproductions of books and works of art bring the rich past of Ukraine to life.
- Paul Robert Magocsi A History of Ukraine: the Land and Its People 2010, 896 p.
A History of Ukraine quickly became the authoritative account of the evolution of Europe’s second-largest country. In his work, Paul Robert Magocsi examines recent developments in the country’s history and uses new scholarship to expand our conception of the Ukrainian historical narrative.
- Ivan L. Rudnytsky. Essays in Modern Ukrainian History 1987. 497 p.
A collection of twenty-three essays by Ivan L. Rudnytsky, a leading historian of modern Ukraine, is noted for his original interpretation of key issues in modern Ukrainian history.
- Orest Subtelny Ukraine: A History 2009, 888 p.
In his work Ukraine: A History, professor Orest Subtelny created a comprehensive survey of the history of the geographical area encompassed by modern-day Ukraine.
Subtelny examines Ukraine’s entry into the era of globalization, looking at social and economic transformations, regional, ideological, and linguistic tensions, and describes the myriad challenges the Ukrainian state and society are facing.
- Mykhailo Hrushevsky History of Ukraine-Rus’: vols. 1–10 (in 12 books) 1997-2021
(The Hrushevsky Translation Project)
History of Ukraine – Rus is the fullest history book by the most famous Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Hrushevskyi. In detail, the author describes Ukrainian history with the help of archaeology, anthropology, ethnography, and historical linguistics. This work is for the ones who want to learn the subject deeply.
- Kohut Zenon E. Making Ukraine: Studies on Political Culture, Historical Narrative, and Identity 2011, 356 p.
In Making Ukraine, Zenon Kohut shows the complex process of the development of Ukraine involving Western influences and native traditions that shaped a distinct Ukrainian political culture and historiography.
Hopefully, this list of books was helpful. Let us know in the comments which books you have already read and which ones from the list you would like to read.