Suggested Reading: Focus on Ukraine
The selected reading list below provides context and background for the history and culture of Ukraine and the ongoing Russian invasion.
NONFICTION
Conflict in Ukraine: the Unwinding of the Post-Cold War Order by Rajan Menon and Eugene Rumer
The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy
The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine by Tim Judah
A Journey Through Ukraine by Jens Mühling, translated by Eugene H. Hayworth
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
Near Abroad: Putin, the West and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus by Gerard Toal
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder
Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine by Elizabeth A. Wood, William E. Pomeranz, E. Wayne Merry, and Maxim Trudolyubov
Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of the Ukraine by Olia Hercules
Ukraine Over the Edge: Russia, the West and the "New Cold War" by Gordon M. Hahn
FICTION
Daughters of the Resistance by Lana Kortchik - A story of love, resilience and courage in World War II, set during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine.
The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan - When hostile soldiers invade a neighboring city, Pasha, a thirty-five-year-old Ukrainian language teacher, sets out for the orphanage where his nephew Sasha lives, now in occupied territory.
Sisters of War by Lana Kortchik - A Ukrainian woman is torn between her duty to protect her family and her attraction to a Hungarian soldier who enlisted with the Nazis in the turmoil of WWII.
The Sky Unwashed by Irene Zabytko - Ukrainian-American Zabytko's poignant debut novel was inspired by the true story of villagers who defied the forced evacuation of their Ukrainian town after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the 1980s.
Something Unbelievable by Maria Kuznetsova - Larissa tells her American granddaughter how their family fled the Nazis, escaping to a tiny village in the Urals, only to endure much hardship there.
Soviet Daughter: a graphic revolution by Julia Alekseyeva - A graphic novel recounting the adventurous life of the author’s grandmother as a feminist, secret service agent, military nurse and Jewish refugee in soviet Ukraine.
The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks by Igort - Two harrowing moments in recent memory - the Ukraine famine and the assassination of a Russian journalist - are illuminated in this graphic novel.
DOCUMENTARIES
The Babushkas of Chernobyl directed by Anne Bogart and Holly Morris
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom directed by Evgeny Afineevsky
LIBRARY STATEMENTS
ALA stands with Ukrainian community: https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/03/ala-stands-ukrainian-library-community
NJLA statement in support of the Ukrainian community: https://www.njla.org/njla-statement-in-support-of-the-ukrainian-library-community
Ukrainian Library Association: https://ula.org.ua/en/