Recommended list of books and films about Ukraine in foreign languages

Interest in Ukraine in the world has wave-like tendencies. And, unfortunately, it mostly coincides with turning points (Orange Revolution, Revolution of Dignity) or periods of great trials (2014 – … russian-Ukrainian war (annexation of Crimea, occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions; 24.02.2022 – … full-scale invasion of the russian federation in Ukraine)). At such times, topics about Ukraine are often covered on the front pages of newspapers/magazines, they are the top topics of television news and other media resources. In addition to live monitoring of the course of events in Ukraine, foreigners are interested in the reasons for these events, why they are happening in Ukraine, where this Ukraine is on the world map, and what is so special about it. The answer to these questions requires immersion in the layer of books and films (fiction, popular science, science) written/translated about Ukraine by Ukrainian and foreign authors.

Such lists of “books to read about Ukraine” already exist, such as the list of The New York Public Library.

Forming our own list of “books and films to read/watch about Ukraine”, we did not aim to answer all possible questions that a foreigner might have about Ukrainians. However, we intended to interest, to encourage a deeper study of the history/culture/literature of an independent, sovereign state and to emphasize that Ukraine, despite a number of problems it is struggling with, should not be associated only with the “post-soviet space” and be one of the unknown states in Eastern Europe in the neighborhood of the EU.

Books published by HURI (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) also deserve special attention.

Therefore, we encourage you to discover Ukraine through this list of books and films (which, of course, does not claim to be exhaustive) and to distribute it to an interested English-speaking audience.

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Зацікавлення Україною у світі має хвилеподібні тенденції. І, на жаль, воно співпадає здебільшого з переломними періодами (Помаранчева революція, Революція Гідності) чи періодами великих випробувань (2014 – … російсько-українська війна (анекcія Криму, окупація частин Донецької та Луганської областей; 24.02.2022 – … повномаштабне вторгнення рф в Україну)). В такі часи українські теми часто висвітлюються на перших шпальтах газет/журналів, є топ-темами телевізійних новин та інших медійних ресурсів. Окрім відслідковування в живому режимі перебігу подій в Україні в іноземців виникає зацікавлення, які причини цих подій, чому вони відбуваються в Україні, де ця Україна на карті світу і що в ній є такого особливого. Відповідь на ці питання потребує занурення у пласт книг та фільмів (художніх, науково-популярних, наукових), написаних/перекладених про Україну українцями та іноземними авторами.

Такі списки “книг для читання про Україну” вже існують, як, наприклад, список The New York Public Library.

Формуючи власний список “книг та фільмів для читання/перегляду про Україну”, ми не ставили за мету відповісти на всі можливі питання, які можуть виникнути в іноземця про українців. Однак мали намір зацікавити, заохотити до глибшого застановлення над історією/культурою/літературою незалежної, суверенної держави та наголосити, що Україна попри ряд проблем, з якими вона бореться, не має асоціюватися лише з “пострадянським простором” та бути однією з невідомих держав у Східній Європі по-сусідству з ЄС.

Також заслуговують на особливу увагу книги, видані HURI (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute).

Тому заохочуємо відкривати Україну через цей список книг і фільмів (який, звичайно, не претендує на вичерпність) та поширювати його серед зацікавленої англомовної аудиторії.

Для зручності ми поділили по темах і переклали текст на аншлійську, тому можете також поширювати. Якщо ж маєте пропозицію для доповнення списку, то просто напишіть нам: [email protected]

History:

1. Applebaum, Anne. Between East and West: across the borderlands of Europe. London : Penguin Books, 1994 (worldcat);
2. Applebaum, Anne. Gulag: a history. London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 2003 (worldcat).
3. Applebaum, Anne. Iron curtain – the crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956. London: Allen Lane, 2012 (worldcat); 
4. Applebaum, Anne. Red famine: Stalin’s war on Ukraine. Toronto : Signal, 2018 (worldcat);
5. Conquest, Robert. Great terror Stalin’s purge of the thirties. New York : Macmillan, 1968. (worldcat);
6. Conquest, Robert. Reflections on a ravaged century. New York; London: W.W. Norton  & Co., 1999 (worldcat);
7. Conquest, Robert. The harvest of sorrow: Soviet collectivization and the terror-famine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987 (worldcat);
8. Culture, Nation, and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter (1600-1945), ed. by Andreas Kappeler, Zenon E. Kohut, Frank E. Sysyn, Mark von Hagen. Edmonton ; Toronto : Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2003. (worldcat);
9. #Euromaidan: history in the making, ed. V. Kady Kadyhrob, Hlib Husiev [et al.]. Kyiv: Osnovy, Art Management, 2014 (worldcat);
10. Horbulin, Volodymyr. My journey through the looking-glass: travel sketches and more. Kyiv: Bright Books, 2020.
11. Hrycak, Jarosław. Historia Ukrainy: 1772-1999: narodziny nowoczesnego narodu, przeł. Katarzyna Kotyńska. Lublin: Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 2000 (worldcat);
12. Hrytsak, Yaroslav. Ivan Franko and His Community, tr. Marta Daria Olynyk. Brookline: Academic Studies Press, 2018 (worldcat);
13. Jakowenko, Natalia. Historia Ukrainy: od czasów najdawniejszych do końca XVIII wieku, przeł. Ola Hnatiuk i Katarzyna Kotyńska. Lublin : Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 2000 (worldcat);
14. Kappeler, Andreas. Kleine Geschichte der Ukraine. München: C.H. Beck, 1994 (worldcat);
15. Kis, Oksana. Survival as victory: Ukrainian women in the Gulag, tr. by Lidia Wolanskyj. Cambridge: Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2021 (worldcat).
16. Kuromiya, Hiroaki. Freedom and Terror in the Donbas: A Ukrainian-Russian Borderland, 1870s-1990s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (worldcat);
17. Marynovych, Myroslav. The Universe behind Barbed Wire. Memoirs of a Ukrainian Soviet Dissident. Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press,2021 (worldcat);
18. Pavlyshyn, Marko; Bercoff, Giovanna Brogi; Plokhy, Serhii. Ukraine and Europe: cultural encounters and negotiations. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, Ottawa: Canadian Electronic Library, [2017] (worldcat);
19. Plokhy, Serhii and Frank E. Sysyn. Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2003 (worldcat);
20. Plokhy, Serhii. Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. London: Allen Lane, 2018 (worldcat);
21. Plokhy, Serhii. The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012 (worldcat);
22. Plokhy, Serhii. The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002 (worldcat);
23. Plokhy, Serhii. The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine’s Past and Present. Cambridge: Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, 2021 (worldcat);
24. Plokhy, Serhii. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. New York: Basic Books, 2015 (worldcat);
25. Plokhy, Serhii. The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006 (worldcat);
26. Plokhy, Serhii. Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 2003 (Harvard papers in Ukrainian studies) (worldcat);
27. Plokhy, Serhii. Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past. Cambridge: University of Toronto Press, 2008 (worldcat);
28. Plokhy, Serhii. Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History, University of Toronto Press, 2005 (worldcat);
29. Plokhy, Serhii. Yalta: The Price of Peace. New York: Viking Adult, 2010 (worldcat);
30. Reid, Anna. Borderland: A journey through the history of Ukraine. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999 (worldcat);
31. Schmid, Ulrich. Ukraine: contested nationhood in a European context, tr. Roy Sellars. London; New York : Routledge, 2021 (worldcat).
32. Shevchenko, Ihor. Ukraine between East and West: Essays on Cultural History to the Early Eighteenth Century. Edmonton; Toronto : Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1996 (worldcat);
33. Shore, Marci. Ukrainian night an intimate history of revolution. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2018 (worldcat);
34. Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands. Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books/Random House, 2010 (worldcat);
35. Snyder, Timothy. The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus,1569–1999, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2003 (worldcat);
36. Snyder, Timothy. The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. New York: Basic Books/Random House, 2008 (worldcat);
37. Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto : Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1988 (worldcat);
38. Szporluk, Roman. Russia, Ukraine, and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2000 (worldcat);
39. Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals, ed. by Volodymyr Yermolenko, Peter Pomerantsev. Stuttgart:Ibidem Press, 2020 (worldcat);
40. Wilson, Andrew. The Ukrainians: unexpected nation. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2002 (worlcat).
41. Wolff, Larry. Inventing Eastern Europe: the map of civilization on the mind of the enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994 (worldcat).
42. Wolff, Larry. The Idea of Galicia. History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020 (worldcat);
43. Yekelchyk, Serhy. Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020 (worldcat);
44. Zelensky, Volodymyr. War speeches I: February-March 2022. Berlin; Amsterdam: lmverlag, 2022 (worldcat);

Culture:

1. Awesome Ukraine: interesting things you need to know, authors: Tamara Krawchenko [et al.]. Kyiv: Osnovy, 2018 (worldcat);
2. Komelkov, Yuriy; Leonenko, Maria. Ukraine. The Best. Cultural Space from A to Z. Kyiv: Atlant-ums, 2017 (worldcat);
3. Savostina, Yuliia. #madeinukraine: shop, eat, travel, tr. by Olga Shepel. Kyiv: Samit-Book, 2018 (worldcat);
4. Ukraїner. Ukrainian Insider. Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2019;

Literature:

1. Andrukhovych, Sofia. Felix Austria. Lausanne: Noir sur Blanc, 2018 (worldcat);
2. Aseyev, Stanislav.  The torture camp on paradise street. Translated by Zenia Tompkins and Nina Murray. Harvard: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2022 (Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature);
3. Herstories: an anthology of new Ukrainian women prose writers / edited by Michael M. Naydan; translations by Mark Andryczyk [et al.]. London: Glagoslav Publications, 2014 (worldcat);
4. Keefer, J. K.,  Pavlychko, S. D. Two lands, new visions: stories from Canada and Ukraine. Regina: Coteau Books, 1999 (worldcat);
5. Kostenko, Lina. Selected poetry: wanderings of the heart. New York : Garland Pub., 1990 (worldcat);
6. Rewakowicz, Maria G. Ukraine’s Quest for Identity: Embracing Cultural Hybridity in Literary Imagination, 1991–2011. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017 (worldcat);
7. Writing from Ukraine: Fiction, Poetry and Essays since 1965, ed. Mark Andryczyk. London: Penguin, 2022 (worldcat);
8. Zabuzhko, Oksana. The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, tr. by Nina Shevchuk-Murray. Seattle : Lake Union Publishing, 2012 (worldcat);
9. Zhadan, Serhiy. A new orthography: poems. Sandpoint: Lost Horse Press, 2020 (worldcat);
10. Zhadan, Serhiy. Mesopotamia, tr. by Reilly Costigan-Humes, Isaac Stackhouse. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018 (worldcat);
11. Zhadan, Serhiy. The Orphanage: A Novel, tr. by Reilly Costigan‑Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler. New Haven:  Yale University Press, 2021 (worldcat);
12. Zhadan, Serhiy. Voroshilovgrad, tr. by Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler, Reilly Costigan-Humes. Dallas: Deep Velum, 2016 (worldcat);
13. Zhadan, Serhiy. What We Live For, What We Die For: Selected Poems, tr. by Viralna Tkacz and Wanda Phipps. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019 (worldcat);

Church history:

1. A thousand years of christianity in Ukraine: an encyclopedic chronology, compiled and edited by Osyp Zinkewych, Andrew Sorokowski. New York; Baltimore; Toronto: Smoloskyp Publishers, 1988 (worldcat);
2. Babynskyi, Anatolii. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: a short history, tr. by Andriy Masliukh; Institute of church history, Ukrainian Catholic University. Lviv: Svichado, 2022.
3. Bociurkiw, Bohdan. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Soviet state, 1939-1950, Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Study Press, 1996 (worldcat);
4. Gil, Andrzej; Skochylias,  Ihor. Kościoły wschodnie w państwie polsko-litewskim w procesie przemian i adaptacji: metropolia kijowska w latach 1458-1795. Lublin; Lwów: Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 2014 (worldcat);
5. Gudziak, Borys A. Crisis and reform: the Kijevan Metropolitanate, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the genesis of the Union of Brest. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1992 (wordcat);
6. Marynovych, Myroslav. An ecumenist analyzes the history and prospects of religion in Ukraine, tr. by Oleh Shved. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University, 2004 (worldcat);
7. Mychalejko, Andrij. Metropolit Andrey Graf Sheptytskyj und das NS-Regime: zwischen christlichem Ideal und politischer Realität. Paderborn: Brill, Ferdinand Schöningh, 2020 (worldcat);
8. To the light of resurrection through the thorns of catacombs: the underground activity and reemergence of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, compiled by Taras Bublyk [et al.]. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press, 2014 (worldcat);
9. Wolff, Larry. Disunion within the Union: the Uniate Church and Partitions of Poland. Cambridge: Harvard University Press for the Ukrainian Research Institute Harvard University, 2019 (worldcat);

Art:

1. A millennium of Christian culture in Ukraine, ed. Andrew Sorokowski [et al.]. London : Ukrainian Millennium Committee in Great Britain, 1988 (worldcat);
2. Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv, authors: О. Danilov [et al.]. Kyiv: Dukhovna spadshchyna Ukrainy, 2013 (series “State collections of Ukraine”) (worldcat);
3. Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts, authors: О. Danilov [et al.]. Kyiv: Dukhovna spadshchyna Ukrainy, 2014 (series “State collections of Ukraine”) (worldcat);
4. Ge, N. N. Albom khudozhestvennykh proyzvedenyi Nykolaia Nykolaevycha Ge. Moskva; Sankt-Peterburg, 1904 (worldcat);
5. Hordynsky, Sviatoslav. The Ukrainian icon of the XIIth to XVIIIth centuries. Philadelphia: Providence Association, 1973 (worlcat);
6. Kateryna Bilokur: [albom], [ed. Nina Rozshosynska, Mykola Kaharlytskyi], Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 2015 (worldcat);
7. Komarnytskyi, A., Ziatyk, B. Sacred relics of princely Ukraine, tr. V. Luzhniak. Lviv: Svichado, 2019 (worldcat);
8. Kyiv’s Hagia Sophia: State Architectural-Historical Monument, compiled by Hrihoriy Logvin. Kyiv: Mistetstvo Publishers, 1971 (worldcat);
9. Susak, Vita. Ukrainian artists in Paris, 1900-1939. Kyiv: Rodovid, A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA, 2010 (worldcat);
10. The National Museum of the history of Ukraine: in 2 volumes, authors N.H.Kovtaniuk [et al.]. Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 2012-2013 (worldcat);
11. Ukrainian icon of the 11th-18th centuries, authors: О. Danilov [et al.]. Kyiv: Dukhovna spadshchyna Ukrainy, 2007 (series “State collections of Ukraine”) (worldcat);
12. Voznytsky National Art Gallery of Lviv, authors: О. Danilov [et al.]. Kyiv: Dukhovna spadshchyna Ukrainy, 2021 (series “State collections of Ukraine”).

Music:

1. Sylvestrov, Valentyn (1937-). Touching the Memory (YouTube);
2. Sylvestrov, Valentyn (1937-). Symphony №8 (YouTube);
3. Bortniansky, Dmitry (1751-1825). Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra in D major (YouTube).

Ukrainian movies or movies on Ukrainian history:

1. V.Silvestrov, 2020, dir. Serhiy Bukovsky, documentary, Ukraine
2. Mr Jones, 2019, dir. Agnieszka Holland, Poland-Ukraine-United Kingdom
3. Black Raven, 2019, dir. Taras Tkachenko, Ukraine
4. Censored, 2019, dir. Roman Brovko, Ukraine
5. The Secret Diary of Symon Petliura, 2018, dir. Oles Yanchuk, Ukraine
6. Call Sign Banderas, 2018, dir. Zaza Buadze, Ukraine
7. Bitter Harvest, 2017, dir. George Mendeluk, Canada
8. Escape from Stalin’s death camp, 2017, dir. Zaza Buadze, Ukraine
9. Frost, 2017, dir. Sarunas Bartas, Lithuania-France-Ukraine-Poland
10. Cyborgs: Heroes Never Die, 2017, dir. Akhtem Seitablayev, Ukraine
11. Jacob’s Century, 2016, dir. Bata Nedic, mini-seria, Ukraine
12. Homeward, 2015, dir. Nariman Aliev, Ukraine
13. Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, 2015, dir. Evgeny Afineevsky, documentary, Ukraine
14. The Guide, 2014, dir. Oles Sanin, Ukraine
15. Ivan the Powerful, 2013, dir. Viktor Andriyenko, Ukraine
16. Firecrosser, 2011, dir. Mykhailo Illienko, Ukraine
17. Golden September: the Galician Chronicles 1939-1941, 2010, dir. Taras Khymych, documentary, Ukraine
18. The Company of Heroes, 2004, dir. Oles Yanchuk, Ukraine
19. War. The Ukrainian Account, 2002, dir. Serhiy Bukovsky, documentary, Ukraine
20. The Undefeated, 2000, dir. Oles Yanchuk, Ukraine
21. Famine-33, 1991, dir. Oles Yanchuk
22. The Legend of Princess Olga, 1983, dir. Yurij Illenko, USSR-Ukraine
23. Earth, 1930, dir. Oleksand Dovzhenko, silent, USSR-Ukraine
24. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929, dir. Dziga Vertov, documentary/silent, USSR-Ukraine

Нагадуємо, якщо маєте пропозицію для доповнення списку, будь ласка, напишіть нам: [email protected]

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