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The Gates of Europe

A History of Ukraine

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The Gates of Europe

By: Serhii Plokhy
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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A New York Times Bestseller

The definitive history of Ukraine from antiquity to today.

“An admirable new history.... In his elegant and careful exposition of Ukraine’s past, Mr. Plokhy has also provided some signposts to the future.” ―Economist

As Ukraine is embroiled in an ongoing struggle with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence, celebrated historian Serhii Plokhy explains that today’s crisis is a case of history repeating itself: the Ukrainian conflict is only the latest in a long history of turmoil over Ukraine’s sovereignty. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine has been shaped by empires that exploited the nation as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.

In The Gates of Europe, Plokhy examines Ukraine’s search for its identity through the lives of major Ukrainian historical figures, from its heroes to its conquerors. As Ukraine once again finds itself at the center of global attention, Plokhy brings its history to vivid life as he connects the nation’s past with its present and future.

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Critic reviews

Ukrainian Weekly
Buy this book Give copies to your children and grandchildren. Buy copies for your friends. Make sure they read it.”

Kirkus Reviews
"A sympathetic survey of the history of Ukraine along the East-West divide, from ancient divisions to present turmoil.... A straightforward, useful work that looks frankly at Ukraine's ongoing "price of freedom" against the rapacious, destabilizing force of Russia.”

Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University
For a comprehensive, engaging, and up-to-date history of Ukraine one could do no better than Serhii Plokhy's aptly titled The Gates of Europe. Plokhy's authoritative study will be of great value to scholars, students, policy-makers, and the informed public alike in making sense of the contemporary Ukrainian imbroglio.”

Michael Ignatieff, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
This is present-minded history at its most urgent. Anyone wanting to understand why Russia and the West confront each other over the future of Ukraine will want to read Serhii Plokhy's reasoned, measured yet passionate account of Ukraine's historic role at the gates of Europe.”
Washington Times
[A] concise, highly readable history of Ukraine a lively narrative peopled with a colorful cast of Norse and Mongol marauders, free-booting Cossacks, kings, conquerors and dictators, and conflicted 19th century intellectuals who believed fervently in a Ukrainian cultural identity but were fatally divided as to how that cultural identity could evolve into national entity.”

New York Review of Books
Elegantly written.”

Publishers Weekly
Injecting appropriate nuance and complexity into a single-volume overview of 2,000 years of Ukrainian history is no small task, but Plokhy approaches this charge with dexterity and skill.... Plokhy's work serves as a welcome introduction to Ukraine's ethnic and national history.”

Library Journal
The timeframe and subjects covered here are extraordinary...students, academics, and readers with a general knowledge of Ukraine will appreciate. Alternatively, chapters can be read independently, allowing those with a strong interest in the subject to focus on a specific era of Ukraine's history.”

Independent, UK
A masterly surveyor of Ukrainian history.”

Winnipeg Free Press, CAN
A comprehensive, unbiased history.”
All stars
Most relevant
Great details, a real sense of historic flow. Would have been improved without such, errr, distinctive voices during quotations

Fascinating intricate history of wonderful country.

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The story of Ukraine is well told and balanced all the way through. Very interesting and well narrated. However the last chapter or epilogue appears to have been written by someone else and grates badly with he entire work. It seems that the standard NATO view of plucky Ukraine versus the new Russian Empire had to be included to have the book published. Still very good but tear out the epilogue as being too recent and controversial opinion.

An excellent book with a weird (bad) epilogue

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This puts the 2022 invasion of Ukraine in a historical perspective. Excellent narration too.

Слава Україні!

Fantastic

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This book could not be better in terms of content - it gives a wonderfully wide and deep history of Ukraine, a part of the world most people had no idea about until Feb 2023.

But I have to say - and it's a policy of mine to avoid negative words in reviews - I do find the narrators very "over-acted" delivery extremely grating. I find myself wishing the delivery were a bit straighter and plainer. Then again, plenty of reviews here seem to like it so maybe I'm the odd-one-out.

Narration aside, this a supremely enlightening book that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn about Ukraine.

Wonderful book but super-annoying narrator

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Not sure why the narrator thinks that accents are a good idea. Still an excellent historiography of Ukraine.

The history of Ukraine

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