Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine by Anna Reid

 

Author: Anna Reid 

Title: Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine

Publisher: W&N

Published: 1997

Pages: 384

Genre: Non Fiction / History 

     A classic and vivid history of Ukraine, fully updated to cover the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 and the ongoing crisis in the Donbas. Centre of the first great Slav civilization in the tenth century, then divided between warring neighbors for a millennium, Ukraine finally won independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tiring of their own corrupt governments, Ukrainians have since mounted two popular revolutions, taking to the streets to demand fair elections and closer ties to Europe. In the spring of 2014, Russia responded by invading Crimea and sponsoring a civil war in the Russian-speaking Donbas. Threatened by Moscow, and misunderstood in the West, Ukraine hangs once more in the balance. Speaking to pro-democracy activists and pro-Russia militiamen, peasants, and miners, survivors of Hitler's Holocaust and Stalin's famine, Anna Reid combines history and travel-writing to unpick the past and present of this bloody and complex borderland.

     I suppose like most people who are currently reading this book the likelihood is if not for the Russian invasion this would not have found its way onto their reading pile. Whilst it is a place that had been on my list of countries to visit I must confess I knew little about its history. Much like many others on there, something along the way piqued my interest. But too often is the case I know not much more than a google search. But a great deal has changed, and I needed to have a better understanding of why current events were starting to unfold the way they are. My first stop was to watch Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom and whilst this gave me a much great understanding of the events of the last few years I had a need to better understand just why such horrific events are taking place. As is too often the case history has a nasty way of repeating itself. But just maybe this book was going to be enough to help me understand how things have ended up where they have.

     After a good deal of searching Reid's books seemed to offer me the best hope of at least getting a more than cursory idea as to just what was taking place. For me, she seemed to be more qualified than others that I could find in English. Having both a background in journalism and living in Kyiv for a good few years I hoped I was off on the right track. From the get-go, she seemed to have not only a love for this country but a wish to help others get a grasp on it. What we get is a book that threads us through the groundworks of how Ukraine came to be, not only through some of its more major moments. But also through the eyes of some of its inhabitants in the mid-nineties. And whilst no a blow by blow of every single event it felt to me that just maybe I could understand the current situation a little better. And after all, that was what I went looking for. 

     The opening and close chapters of this book have taken on a much sadder and more heartbreaking tone in light of current events. You can not hold this against the author for how was she to know what was to transpire. Her sense of realism mixed with hope seem now to have been misguided but then again do we not all hope for a better world for our families and friends. But it seems Ukraine had the misfortune to be placed firmly between Europe and Russia a buffer between states that seem to have been at war with each on and offer since they first came to be. As you make your way through these pages it becomes easier to see why the current generation of Ukrainians are fighting so hard and with everything they have. It is firmly in their nature after all they have had to fight one country or another for so very long now just to exist. And this is hardly the first time Russia has tried to rid this land of its people and take it as its own. Stalin after all did his very best to achieve this goal. And whilst he ultimately failed a certain sentiment seems to have filtered down into the current generation of Russians.

     What I would say is that the author tries to give some balance to her work. This is not just about Ukraine being the victim but also showing some of its more dark times. After all, no country is completely innocent throughout its entire history. And maybe we prefer not to do such things. I know my own country's history is riddled with times when the rest of the world would happily curse our name. But no matter how much we try and look the other way it is important to understand such events because without these we are living in half the picture. Either way, it is hard to see how any country should have to endure what Ukraine is currently going through. It is just a sad state of affairs that it is not the first time this country has had to face such horrors. And whilst it may be very naive of me I do hope it will be their last.

     I think for me this book gave me what I had been looking for. A better sense of understanding helps us along the path. Our brains need a certain amount of data points before we can start to get a handle on the world we live in be that for better or worse. Within this book, Reid has done her very best to shrink down hundreds of years of history into a work that can be consumed by pretty much anyone.