Serhii Plokhy

From a preeminent historian of Eastern Europe, the definitive history of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry, tracing the disaster to the authoritarian character of Communist party rule, the regime's control of scientific information, and its emphasis on economic development over all else. Today, the risk of another Chernobyl looms in the mismanagement of nuclear power in the developing world. A moving and definitive account, Chernobyl is also an urgent call to action.

The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe

Chernobyl

"From one of the foremost experts on Ukraine and the former USSR, a concise, authoritative history of Ukraine. Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense battle with Russia to preserve its economic and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's existence as a sovereign nation. As award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its fraught present and likely future. Situated between Europe, Russia, and the Asian East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that have used it as a strategic gateway between East and West--from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, all have engaged in global fights for supremacy on Ukrainian soil. Each invading army left a lasting mark on the landscape and on the population, making modern Ukraine an amalgam of competing cultures. Authoritative and vividly written, The Gates of Europe will be the definitive history of Ukraine for years to come"--

A History of Ukraine

The Gates of Europe

Serhii Plokhy, a world-renowned historian, presents a profoundly revisionist, page-turning account of the Soviet Union's collapse. The book advances ground-breaking revisionist arguments - including that the West didn't actually want to see the end of the Soviet Union.

The Final Days of the Soviet Union

The Last Empire

From a preeminent scholar of Eastern Europe, a new history of Russian imperialism In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this blatant violation of national sovereignty was only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost Kingdom, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues that we can only understand the confluence of Russian imperialism and nationalism today by delving into the nation's history. Spanning over 2,000 years, from the end of the Mongol rule to the present day, Plokhy shows how leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin exploited existing forms of identity, warfare, and territorial expansion to achieve imperial supremacy. An authoritative and masterful account of Russian imperialism, Lost Kingdom chronicles the story behind Russia's belligerent nation-building quest.

The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation

Lost Kingdom

A harrowing account of the Cuban missile crisis and how the US and USSR came to the brink of nuclear apocalypse.

A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Nuclear Folly

Atoms and Ashes - a Global History of Nuclear Disasters

Gates of Europe

"In the fall of 1961, a KGB agent defected to West Germany. The slim 30-year-old man in police custody had papers in the name of an East German ... but claimed that his real name was Bogdan Stashinsky, and he was a citizen of the Soviet Union ... He had traveled on numerous occasions to Munich, where he singlehandedly tracked down and killed two enemies of the communist regime. He used a new, specially designed secret weapon--a spray pistol delivering liquid poison that, if fired into the victim's face, killed him without leaving any trace ... Stashinsky escaped ... and crossed into West Berlin just hours before the Berlin Wall was erected. In 1962, after spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case in Cold War history"--Provided by publisher.

A Cold War Spy Story

The Man with the Poison Gun

An authoritative history of Europe's largest military conflict since World War II, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Gates of Europe.

The Return of History

The Russo-Ukrainian War

Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense battle with Russia to preserve its economic and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's existence as a sovereign nation. As award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its fraught present and likely future. Situated between Europe, Russia, and the Asian East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that have used it as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, all have engaged in global fights for supremacy on Ukrainian soil. Each invading army left a lasting mark on the landscape and on the population, making modern Ukraine an amalgam of competing cultures. Authoritative and vividly written, The Gates of Europe will be the definitive history of Ukraine for years to come.

"Esta é a história da central nuclear de Chernobyl desde a sua construção à sua desativação. Em 26 de abril de 1986, às 13:23, um reator da Usina Nuclear de Chernobyl, na Ucrânia soviética, explodiu. Enquanto as autoridades tentavam entender o que havia acontecido, trabalhadores, engenheiros, bombeiros e aqueles que viviam na área foram abandonados ao seu destino. A explosão colocou o mundo à beira da aniquilação nuclear, contaminando mais da metade da Europa com a precipitação radioativa. " -- Publisher.

a história de uma catástrofe nuclear

A history of the eight-day peace conference in 1945 between FDR, Churchill and Stalin offers insight into the strained political forces that influenced peace talks, challenging popular opinions about Yalta's role in triggering the Cold War.

The Price of Peace

Yalta

Die Geschichte der Ukraine

Das Tor Europas

In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, a mysterious manuscript began to circulate among the dissatisfied noble elite of the Russian Empire. Entitled The History of the Rus', it became one of the most influential historical texts of the modern era. Attributed to an eighteenth-century Orthodox archbishop, it described the heroic struggles of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexander Pushkin read the book as a manifestation of Russian national spirit, but Taras Shevchenko interpreted it as a quest for Ukrainian national liberation, and it would inspire thousands of Ukrainians to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Serhii Plokhy tells the fascinating story of the text's discovery and dissemination, unravelling the mystery of its authorship and tracing its subsequent impact on Russian and Ukrainian historical and literary imagination. In so doing he brilliantly illuminates the relationship between history, myth, empire and nationhood from Napoleonic times to the fall of the Soviet Union.

History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires

The Cossack Myth

The Ukrainian Cossacks, often compared in historical literature to the pirates of the Mediterranean and the frontiersmen of the American West, constituted one of the largest Cossack hosts in the European steppe borderland. They became famous as ferocious warriors, their fighting skills developed in their religious wars against the Tartars, Turks, Poles, and Russians. By and large the Cossacks were Orthodox Christians, and quite early in their history they adopted a religious ideology in their struggle against those of other faiths. Their acceptance of the Muscovite protectorate in 1654 was also influenced by their religious ideas. In this pioneering study, Serhii Plokhy examines the confessionalization of religious life in the early modern period, and shows how Cossack involvment in the religious struggle between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicisim helped shape not only Ukrainian but also Russian and Polish cultural identities.

The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine

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.

Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus

The Origins of the Slavic Nations

Zimna wojna zaczęła się nad płonącą Warszawą. W południe 18 września 1944 roku niebo nad płonącą stolicą Polski wypełniły klucze Latających Fortec. 110 bombowców B-17 zrzuciło 1300 pojemników z bronią i zaopatrzeniem dla walczących powstańców. Mimo że morale załóg było wysokie – ładownie zamiast bomb wypełniała pomoc humanitarna i broń dla sojuszników –skuteczność akcji była znikoma. Większość zasobników trafiła w ręce Niemców bądź zatonęła w Wiśle. Amerykańskie maszyny nie wróciły na zachód, a wylądowały na lotniskach pod Połtawą. Sowieci udostępnili je aliantom dla realizacji wahadłowych misji bombowych o kryptonimie „Frantic”. W leżących na ukraińskiej ziemi bazach Jankesi początkowo witani byli jak bohaterowie. Rosjanie uczyli ich pić wódkę, czerwonoarmistki umawiały się z nimi na randki, a całości przyglądali się wysłani z Moskwy szpiedzy. Już od pierwszych dni powstania Churchill i Roosevelt nakłaniali Stalina, by ten zgodził się na niesienie pomocy walczącej Warszawie. Satrapa wolał jednak utopić miasto w morzu krwi. Narosłe wówczas nieporozumienia były początkiem kolejnej, tym razem zimnej wojny. Powyższy opis pochodzi od wydawcy.

Most nad piekłem. Amerykańskie bombowce na polskim niebie

Nuclear Folly 2022

Ce livre est une histoire de l’Ukraine, du territoire et des hommes qui l’habitent, depuis Hérodote jusqu’à Zelensky. Racontée avec brio à travers une suite d’événements et de portraits des protagonistes insérée dans l’histoire politique, économique et militaire de l’Europe et dans celle de la chrétienté ; les deux présentées dans leurs grandes lignes mais sans simplifications excessives. La moitié du livre traite de la période antérieure à la Première Guerre mondiale, ce qui laisse assez de place pour une histoire plus détaillée de l’époque contemporaine. L’ambition de l’auteur vise toutefois un objectif plus difficile à atteindre que celui de simplement raconter à ses lecteurs l’histoire d’un pays souvent mal connu. Il essaie de leur faire comprendre toute la complexité de la situation de l’Ukraine en dévoilant ses racines historiques. Il y réussit pleinement en montrant comment un ensemble humain traversé par des frontières écologiques, religieuses, linguistiques, politiques, et dont les composantes ont vécu des passés fort différents, construit une identité commune, devient une nation et se donne un État. Serhii Plokhy évite toute apologie, ne cache pas les faces sombres du mouvement national ukrainien et les énormes difficultés d’apprentissage de l’indépendance face à un voisin, la Russie, puissant et hostile. Cette histoire de l’Ukraine est aussi celle de la Russie, l’une n’étant pas intelligible sans l’autre. À ce titre, elle est une excellente introduction à la compréhension du conflit actuel.

Aux portes de l’Europe. Histoire de l’Ukraine

In «Die Frontlinie» analysiert der Historiker Serhii Plokhy die entscheidenden Entwicklungen in der Geschichte der Ukraine und ihrer Beziehung zu Russland und dem Westen. Russlands Angriffskrieg kommt nicht aus dem Nichts. Die Begründung des Krieges und das dahinterstehende Narrativ greifen auf jahrhundertealte Großmachtansprüche Russlands zurück, die es in der Vergangenheit immer wieder gestellt hat. In kenntnisreichen Essays zeigt er, wie viel umfassender sich der gegenwärtige Konflikt verstehen lässt, wenn man die historischen Wurzeln kennt und die Region in ihrer Vielschichtigkeit erfassen kann. Das ist so erhellend wie erschreckend.

Serhii Plokhy

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