It traces the origins of the modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations by focusing on pre-modern forms of group identity among the Eastern Slavs. It also challenges attempts to 'nationalize' the Rus' past on behalf of existing national projects, laying the groundwork for understanding of the pre-modern history of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The book covers the period from the Christianization of Kyivan Rus' in the tenth century to the reign of Peter I and his eighteenth-century successors, by which time the idea of nationalism had begun to influence the thinking of East Slavic elites.

    Haunted by her orphaned father’s abandonment by his extended family, his secretive, walled-off trauma and absent history, she sets off in pursuit of the family he claims not to have. From the dutiful happiness of Levittown in the 1950s to a stricken former shtetl in Ukraine, we follow Tall’s journey through evasions and lies. Reflecting on family secrecy, postwar American culture, and the urge for roots, Tall’s search uncovers not just a missing family but an understanding of the part family and history play in identity. A Family of Strangers is Tall’s life’s work, told in such exacting, elegant language that the suppressed past vividly asserts its place in the present.

    A few of these chapters are principally historical, connecting tsarist and Soviet constructions to today's systems and struggles. The introduction by Dominique Arel sets out the project in terms of new scholarly approaches to identity, and the conclusion by Blair A. Ruble draws out political and social implications that challenge citizens and policy makers.Rebounding Identities is based on a series of workshops held at the Kennan Institute in 2002 and 2003.

    The journeys they must make to reach Post-War Europe are astounding in their bravery; the atrocities, horrifying; the humor, gentle and the convictions, fierce. The Lukians: Severyn, a famous painter, and his wife, Olena, a writer and composer, flee Ukraine and away from the mistrustful and chaotic environment caused by the political factions of the Underground resistance. Along with their two young sons and Olena's sister - a beautiful, clever and shrewd spy - they attempt to reach Switzerland. However, they are surrounded by the Germans in Slovakia and deported forever away from their goal. The Hanchars: Siblings Maksym, Marianna and Danylo escape into the Underground to fight alongside the Germans, and against the Russians. When Maksym and the other senior officers of the cell convince the Germans to recognize the "forest fighters" as an official legion, things take an interesting twist as everyone anticipates the fierceness of the returning Red Tide. Roksana Mystets'ka: Alone, she has fled into the Underground after her priest-brother is sent to the gulag. Roksana - strong, sassy and a fanatical patriot - must face some of the hardest choices in her life as her homeland is being burnt to the ground. These are the stories of love and betrayal, deaths and rebirth, separations and reunions, during one of the most controversial chapters in Ukrainian history and World War II history. Deep Wells, Burning Forests examines the meaning of patriotism in a misunderstood country that constantly struggled for independence, freedomand the right of man, and made a Faustian deal with the enemy in order to get them.

    Davies' study provides an essential insight into the emergence of Russia as a great power.For nearly three centuries, Russia vied with the Crimean Khanate, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire for mastery of the Ukraine and the fertile steppes above the Black Sea, a region of great strategic and economic importance - arguably the pivot of Eurasia at the time.The long campaign took a great toll upon Russia's population, economy and institutions, and repeatedly frustrated or redefined Russian military and diplomatic projects in the West.The struggle was every bit as important as Russia's wars in northern and central Europe for driving the Russian state-building process, forcing military reform and shaping Russia's visions of Empire.