Palko Olena (ed.). Ukraine's Many Faces: Land, People and Culture Revisited. Transcript Verlag,2023. � 404 p.. 2023

Let�s perform an experiment, the same one I do with my students of modern European history at the start of the academic year. Visualise the map of Eu�rope. And now visualise the easternmost border of what you think of as Eu�rope. Where is this border? Will it stretch as far as the Urals? Ifit runs along the eastern side of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, what does it do when it reaches Belarus? Is Belarus in, or is it out? Once the line gets to northern Ukraine, where does it go from there? Does it go farther east to encompass the whole of Ukraine? Kharkiv? Donbas? Will it run along the western border of Ukraine, leaving Lviv and Uzhhorod outside of Europe? Or do you visualise the east�ernmost border of your mental map of Europe, as do most of my students of modern European history, running along the Dnipro River, splitting Ukraine in half? And, if so, what does it do when it gets to the Black Sea? Where does Crimea fit on the map inside your mind? Our mental maps are formed from the places we visit, the languages we understand, the literature we read, the culture we appreciate, the people we meet and care about. Our mental maps are just as important as those used in classrooms and war rooms. Ukraine has existed on the official map of Europe for at least 30 years. Placenames were misspelled, the definitive article added before the name for no good reason. But it was there, printed and coloured. The largest country in Europe. Yet it was mostly missing from our mental maps.

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Contents

Illustrations

Timeline of Ukrainian History

Foreword. Where is Ukraine?

How a Western Outlook Perpetuates Myths about Europe's Largest Country

Introduction. Ukraine's Many Faces

Modernity at the Crossroads of Empires Primary Source

Ukrainian Draft Treaty of 1654

To My Fellow-Countrymen, In Ukraine and Not in Ukraine, Living, Dead and as Yet Unborn

Conversation Piece