BOOK NOTES

Compedium on Ukraine during second world war

"Ukraine: The Challenges of World War II," edited by Taras Hunczak and Dmytro Shtohryn. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2003, 420 pp., $75 (hardcover).

"Ukraine: The Challenges of World War II" provides a description of the challenges faced by Ukraine during the second world war as the country was subjected to the alternating occupations of both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia.

The book delves into the history of Ukraine during World War II - "a story of a profound human drama," the editors note in the preface to the book. "It was both tragic and heroic, suffering the greatest human losses of any nations, although not directly involved in the war as an independent entity," the editors wrote.

The book's 20 chapters - which deal with a variety of topics, including religion, literature, theater, Ukraine's relationship with neighboring countries during the second world war - are predominantly a compilation of papers that were prepared for and read at scholarly conferences organized by the Ukrainian Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Several chapters were written specifically for the book, while two chapters, as well as five valuable documents included as part of the appendix to the book, are reprints from publications of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.

Contributors to the book include: Iurij Shapoval, Wolodymyr Stojko, Rudolf A. Mark, Bohdan Krawchenko, Myroslaw Prokop, Peter J. Potichnyj, Taras Hunczak, Edward D. Wynot, Jr., Arkady Joukovsky, Basil Dmytryshyn, Jaroslav Rozumnyj, Wolodymyr T. Zyla, Andrew Turchyn, Alexander Voronin, Valerian Revutsky and John Basarab.

Prof. Hunczak has been teaching history and political science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., since 1960. He has edited and contributed to a number of books, and is the author of "On the Horns of a Dilemma: The Story of the Ukrainian Division Halychyna."

Prof. Shtohryn completed his studies in Ukrainian literature and library science at the University of Ottawa in 1970. He has served as the Slavic cataloguer at the library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, starting in 1960. In 1961 he was appointed associate of the university's Russian and East European Center, where he has organized annual Ukrainian studies conferences.

Ordes may be placed by calling toll-free: 1-800-462-6420.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 18, 2004, No. 28, Vol. LXXII

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