Zenon E. Kohut

Both modern Ukrainian nationhood and the historical preconditions of the country’s contemporary conflict with Russia are rooted in a complex period of development in Cossack Ukraine. The Making of Cossack Ukraine traces the evolution of early modern Ukrainian political thought and culture from their sixteenth-century origins to 1714. Early modern Ukraine was home to a multitude of interrelated political cultures, including those of the Ruthenian nobility, the Kyivan clergy, and the Cossacks. Zenon Kohut shows how constant interplay between these cultures contributed to the development of political, territorial, religious, ethnic, and national collective visions that reflected early modern concepts of nation, state, and identity. Two persistent narratives – the idea of Ukrainian autonomy and perpetual rights, and the idea of a continuous “Russian” tsardom stemming from medieval times – formed the foundation for not only Ukrainian state and nation building but also Russia’s modern identity and sense of nationhood, creating the ideological underpinning for Russian imperialism. Based in a classical analysis of ethnic, religious, and political ideas developed by early modern Ukrainian intellectuals, The Making of Cossack Ukraine brings to light the origins of present-day Ukrainian political thought.

Although present-day Ukraine has only been in existence for something over two decades, its recorded history reaches much further back for more than a thousand years to Kyivan Rus’. Over that time, it has usually been under control of invaders like the Turks and Tatars, or neighbors like Russia and Poland, and indeed it was part of the Soviet Union until it gained its independence in 1991. Today it is drawn between its huge neighbor to the east and the European Union, and is still struggling to choose its own path… although it remains uncertain of which way to turn. Nonetheless, as one of the largest European states, with considerable economic potential, it is not a place that can be readily overlooked. The problem is, or at least was, where to find information on this huge modern Ukraine, and since 2005 the answer has been the Historical Dictionary of Ukraine in its first edition, and now even more so with this second edition. It now boasts a dictionary section of about 725 entries, these covering the thousand years of history but particularly the recent past, and focusing on significant persons, places and events, political parties and institutions as well as more broadly international relations, the economy, society and culture. The chronology permits readers to follow this history and the introduction is there to make sense of it. It also features the most extensive and up-to-date bibliography of English-language writing on Ukraine.

The making of modern Ukrainian identity is often reduced to a choice between "Little Russia" and "Ukraine." In this collection of essays, Zenon Kohut shows that the process was much more complex, involving Western influences and native traditions that shaped a distinct Ukrainian political culture and historiography. He stresses the importance of the early modern period and analyzes the development of Ukrainian historiography. Among the topics singled out for attention are the struggle for Cossack rights and liberties, the ambiguous role of the concept of Little Russia, the development of a stereotypical image of Jews, and post-independence relations between Ukraine and Russia. The book offers a rewarding and richly nuanced treatment of a contentious subject.

Although English-language histories of Ukraine have been published since the 1930s, there has been no one-volume compendium of articles covering Ukrainian history from ancient times to the present, emphasizing the modern period. The A to Z of Ukraine introduces Ukraine to the reader through 700 entries on population, geography, economy, politics, and culture; descriptions of institutions, cultural monuments, political parties, battles and wars; and biographical sketches of key individuals in politics, the arts and sciences, the church, and the military. The work includes nine maps and a comprehensive chronology of Ukrainian history. It also features the most extensive and up-to-date bibliography of English-language writings on Ukraine currently in print. Scholars, students, and other readers interested in Ukraine's history will find this comprehensive volume a most useful resource.