Rethinking Ukrainian History

by Ivan L. Rudnytsky (Editor), Omeljan Pritsak, Frank E. Sysyn

Nine essays reexamine major aspects of Ukrainian history: Kyivan Rus', the Ukrainian nobility and elites, the growth and development of Ukrainian cities and the evolution of the Ukrainian literary language.

Contributors include Omeljan Pritsak, Frank Sysyn, Zenon Kohut, Orest Subtelny, Patricia Herlihy, George Shevelov, and others. This volume also Includes a thirty-five-page round-table discussion.

Genres: History, Ukraine

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Professor of Ukrainian history; full member of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S. and the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada. The son of Pavlo Lysiak and Milena Rudnytska, nephew of Ivan Kedryn, Mykhailo Rudnytsky, and Antin Rudnytsky, father of Peter L. Rudnytsky, husband of Alexandra Chernenko, and uncle of Dorian Rudnytsky and Roman Rudnytsky, he was educated at the Academic Gymnasium of Lviv, Lviv University (1937–9), the University of Berlin (1940–3), Charles University in Prague (PhD, 1945), and, as a postwar refugee, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva (1946–51) and Columbia University (1951–3).

Rudnytsky was a professor of East European and Ukrainian history at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (1953–4), La Salle College in Philadelphia (1956–67), the American University in Washington, DC (1967–71), and the University of Alberta (1971–84). He helped found the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) and was one of its associate directors (1976–80).

Rudnytsky is the author of over 200 historical essays, commentaries, and reviews in Zhinka (1937–8), Natsiia v pokhodi (1939–40), Biuleten’ Tsentrali NOUS (1943–4), Ukraïns’ki visti (1948–51), The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., Lysty do pryiateliv, Suchasnist’, other émigré periodicals, and Western academic journals and books. A selection were republished as the collection Mizh istoriieiu i politykoiu (Between History and Politics, 1973) and posthumously as Essays in Modern Ukrainian History, 1987, 23 essays), Istorychni ese (Historical Essays, 2 vols, 1994, 59 essays), and in Russian (2007) and Polish (2012) translation. Rudnytsky edited Drahomanov: A Symposium and Selected Writings (1952), a large volume of Osyp Nazaruk’s letters to Viacheslav Lypynsky (1976), and the conference papers Rethinking Ukrainian History (1981). He also contributed to Entsyklopediia ukraïnoznavstva (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies), Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopaedia, and the Encyclopedia of Ukraine.

Rudnytsky’s erudite, classic liberal assessments of Ukrainian history and political thought have greatly influenced his émigré Ukrainian and Polish colleagues, his students in the USA and Canada, and the study of Ukrainian history in independent Ukraine. His papers and voluminous correspondence are preserved at the University of Alberta archives.

Reviews

[Serhii Povísenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

After stumbling upon one of the most influential figures in Ukrainian historical studies, Ivan L. Rudnytsky, thanks to a lecture by Yaroslav Hrytsak, I embarked on an extensive search for his books, hoping to include them in my library. One of such works is 'Rethinking Ukrainian History'. 'The nine essays that re-examine major aspects of Ukrainian history including Kyivan Rus’, the Ukrainian nobility and elites, Cossack Ukraine and the Turco-Islamic world, the growth and development of Ukrainian cities, the evolution of Ukrainian literary language, the role of the city in Ukrainian history and the urbanization of Ukrainian cities since the Second World War.'

Among the materials presented in that book, one of the most astonishing gems, in my view, is the brilliant discussion transcript found at the end. It features a gathering of distinguished scholars from the late 1970s, engaging in a profound discourse on the topic of periodisation and terminology in Ukrainian history. This panel includes luminaries such as Omelian Pritsak, the inaugural director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and George Shevelov, a world-renowned Slavic linguist. Among them is Orest Subtelny, acclaimed for coining the first accessible English-language overview of Ukrainian history, alongside numerous other brilliant and free-thinking individuals

The transcript offers an intriguing read as it delves into the challenges of that time, and in doing so, it may illuminate hurdles that in my opinion persist in the contemporary context of Ukrainian identity. This discussion not only contributes to my understanding of the pivotal concept 'Ukraine is Europe', a cornerstone of the Revolution of Dignity but also reveals the intricate nature of 'Ukraine' as an idea. It prompts us to ponder whether it is defined by its geography, its people, or a harmonious fusion of both. This query remains profoundly relevant, especially within the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, where the ultimate resolution unfortunately remains uncertain.

I genuinely hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did.