The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus - Hardcover

Plokhy, Serhii

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521864038 ISBN 13: 9780521864039

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2006

Synopsis

This book documents developments in the countries of eastern Europe, including the rise of authoritarian tendencies in Russia and Belarus, as well as the victory of the democratic 'Orange Revolution' in Ukraine, and poses important questions about the origins of the East Slavic nations and the essential similarities or differences between their cultures. 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.

About this title

Book Description

A 2006 study of the origins of the modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations, covering the period from 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.

About the Author

Serhii Plokhy is Professor of History at the University of Alberta. His numerous publications in Russian and Slavic history include Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History (2005) and, with Frank E. Sysyn, Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine (2003).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521864038
• ISBN 13: 9780521864039
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400