The Ukraine's emergence as an independent state in 1991 was not accompanied by violence, it may be argued, due to the weak national consciousness of most of its citizens. Dr.Velychenko's latest work compares Soviet with Polish accounts of the Ukraine's past, examines how 'national history' was written and how its interpretation changed in each country. This book provides an account of how historical writing was used to build and destroy nations and states and is particularly relevant today in light of recent events in Eastern Europe.

Illustrations - Introduction - PART I BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT - Nations, States and History - Ukraine as Periphery and Historiography of the Historiography - 'National History': A Pervasive Category - Russian or Soviet Historiography? - Institutions and Ideology - The Organization of Historiography - Variants of Historical Materialism - The Parameters of Interpretation - Delineating the Past - Guidelines in the USSR - Guidelines in Poland - PART II POLISH HISTORIOGRAPHY - Neoromanticism and Positivism (1914-1944) - The Major Historians - Textbooks and Popular Histories - The Imposed Continuity (1944-1982) - A New Version of the Past - Elaboration and Omission - Monographs and Articles on Ukrainian Subjects - Interwar Publications - Postwar Publications - PART III SOVIET-RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY - Degrees of Inclusion, Exclusion and Affinity - The Nations of the USSR (1914-1937) - Histories of the USSR (1937-1956) - Histories of the USSR (1956-1982) - The History of the Ukr.SSR (1948-1982)- The First Attempts - Subsequent Revisions - Deductivist Discourse and Research - Interpretations and Typologies - Monographs and Articles - CONCLUSION:POLISH AND SOVIET-RUSSIAN INTERPRETATIONS OF UKRAINIAN HISTORY - Appendix: Perestroika and Interpretation - Abbreviations - Notes - Index