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.

SUGGESTED READING

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/

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