The Russo-Ukrainian War

The Return of History

By: Serhii Plokhy

Narrated by: Victor Bevine

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's summary

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.

Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war—and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated.

Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences. Though the current war began eight years before the all-out assault—on February 27, 2014, when Russian armed forces seized the building of the Crimean parliament—the roots of this conflict can be traced back even earlier, to post-Soviet tensions and imperial collapse in the 19th and 20th centuries. Providing a broad historical context and an examination of Ukraine and Russia’s ideas and cultures, as well as domestic and international politics, Plokhy reveals that while this new Cold War was not inevitable, it was predictable.

Ukraine, Plokhy argues, has remained central to Russia’s idea of itself even as Ukrainians have followed a radically different path. In a new international environment defined by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the disintegration of the post-Cold War international order, and a resurgence of populist nationalism, Ukraine is now more than ever the most volatile fault line between authoritarianism and democratic Europe.

©2023 Serhii Plokhy (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Good

Yeah it's good, here's some more words to meet the limit yeah bois I like history

a must for anyone who wants to have an understanding of the Russia Ukraine war and the turning point of History it represents

this author consistently presents detailed information and how different events interrelate across history to the present

and the desperate need for the West to fully support Ukraine and victory over Russia.

The First Year of the War In Depth. Very Readable

I have been obsessed with the war and sought out every bit of information I could. But it was Professor Plokhy who brought out the human story, filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge and put it all in context. Folks ,we are living in historical times: the decline and fall of Russian imperialism. The agony and bravery of the Ukrainians has ripped Russia's mask off and shown the world what it is: inefficient, hugely unequal economically, corrupt, brutal and alcoholic. The reader does a fine job.

great story, awkward performance

I enjoyed the writing as it provided a well-stocked history, key aspects of the war and a summary of key moments of the war. the performance had odd portions where names, portions of sentences, and 1-2 sentence fragments recorded over. the inflection of the narrator was very different which became distracting. it was less than professional and I am surprised they would release it like that. setting that aside, great read!

Plokhy delivers as always!

Plokhy provides an insightful and authoritative review and assessment of relevant events.
Performance: in the year 2023 can we PLEASE prioritize correct pronunciation of personal and place names? I don’t expect perfect native Ukrainian or Russian (or Georgian, or Polish…) pronunciation but my goodness can’t the audio producers check on the pronunciation at the time of recording? You can hear some audio corrections of what I assume were the most egregious errors but for a professional audio book production I would expect much better attention to this issue. The audience of a book like this may actually know how the names should be pronounced and it’s incredibly distracting. This isn’t 1993, you can just open up this thing called the internet and check on how names should be pronounced before slash during recording. Plokhy and the listeners deserve better.

An expert detailing current history

Great book. The narrative, content and writing are phenomenal. The audio quality is not the best and there are many splices into the playback to correct things that are different in tone/timbre.

Brilliant book

Masterfully distilled and presented historical background of the Russo-Ukrainian war and a multitude of factors that have been steering its course. I love how the author incorporated vivid and often heartbreaking details of wartime experiences of Ukrainian people from all walks of life .

Transforming Europe

Plokhy’s definitive narrative of the war will be important in understanding the history of transformation of Europe.

Excellent

Great book, I highly recommend all read it in these extremely trying times we are experiencing