History: Reviews of New Books | 2021
Localism and the Ancient Greek City-State
Abstract
variety of Russian-ness in the historical and cultural sphere of the eastern Slavs. The facile, literary style of the book continually helps the author to square the circle of Ukrainian history. Frequent references to popular historical fiction or blockbusters and exciting plots, in the spirit of detective novels exemplifying adventures from the earthly remains of the Kyivan Prince Yaroslav the Wise, with many comparisons and ironic commentary, make Plokhy’s book interesting and pleasurable to read. The author believes that history explains the present. To what degree does the present explain Ukrainian history and its narrative? The first edition of this book was published in 2015, on the wave of a global surge in interest in Ukraine, galvanized by the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the Moscow-inspired armed conflict in the Donbas region, which continues to the present. These events, which placed the world on the brink of a new Cold War, constitute the political context that is necessary for understanding the book’s public response. (The book brought the author the highest prize in Ukraine: the Shevchenko National Prize.) Plokhy has a good understanding of the problem of the entangled history of Russia and Ukraine, as well as their shared geography. A hidden or overt polemic against the Russian narrative is woven throughout the entire book and concludes it. Nevertheless, this polemic is conducted by the author in the tradition of political correctness and adherence to academic standards. The same can also be said about politically sensitive and nationally irritable problems, which to this day influence Ukrainian-Polish and UkrainianJewish relations. The book reflects the European course chosen by Ukraine following almost a quarter of a century of walking within a closed circle between Europe and Russia. Yet such a choice is not the first and, quite likely, not the last in the long history of Ukraine. Plokhy chose for the title of his book the metaphor of the gate, from amongst a variety of other, potential ones (bridge, meeting place, between East and West, etc.). However, it is essential to remember that these gates open onto both sides. (See R. Szporluk, “The Soviet West or Far Eastern Europe?” East European Politics and Society 5 [1991]: 466–82.)