Best products from r/ukraine

Rusyns, who are not Ukrainians or Russians, and not Ukrainophiles or Russophiles, have a long history spanning hundreds of years of historic, cultural, and linguistic development. No one disputes that Rusyn is an older term for Ukrainians, but the mid-19th century is when things especially really started to develop and organize into the nationalism and ethnic identities we see now. Remember there are only about 200 countries in the world, but thousands of languages and cultural groups, so it's far more normal to be a minority, clumsily squeezed into the borders of some other nationality's country, than it is to be an easily defined nationality like English, Italian, Spanish, etc (and in most cases, a regional identity is stronger even than the national one).

If you want a pretty good background of why Rusyns and Ukrainians don't get along, even in North America, 100 years after the major immigrations, here's a book about it. TL;DR: getting told your people and culture don't exist except maybe as a Ukrainian subgroup gets really old really fast.

Here are some resources for further reading that will provide the point of view of those Rusyns who do not consider themselves Ukrainian:

• Encyclopedia articles on various Carpatho-Rusyn topics
  
  Rusyns are identified in every country where they live as a separate nationality (Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Czech Republic) except Ukraine. That's a fact.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Tibet-Conversations-Dalai-Lama-ebook/dp/B005TJNII8/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1393647317&sr=8-13&keywords=interviews+dalai+lama

not a fantastic source but in it, The Dalai Lama specifically talks about how the goal of revolution and freedom was the original goal, but are now willing to accept something lesser due to the difficulties of attaining total freedom from the Chinese.

I was in Lviv recently and the city made an impression on me. I've been trying to learn the language since. here are some of the resources that have been helping me.

I used this site to learn the alphabet while in Lviv: http://ielanguages.com/ukrainian.html

When I was asking about pronunciation, a Ukrainian friend sent me This youtube channel and it has been helpful: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JHi2oHJrVNkhJlVRyK9vg

This site has been helpful: http://www.ukma.edu.ua/eng/ufl/

I recently bought the Pimsleur course and have been listening to it while driving: http://www.pimsleur.com/learn-ukrainian/ukrainian-phase-1-units-1-30/9781442324558


I also bought an english/ukrainian dictionary from amazon, it stays by my couch: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0781803063?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Olexander Motyl on modern history.

Also this. Tymothy Snyder is good on WW2.

This is about the RF but brilliant, undervalued and 100% relevant to Ukraine. Maybe a bit outdated though.

My wife is Ukrainian and when she visits home, she always comes back with boxes of Kiev Vecherniy and Strela Podolsky both made by Roshen. My family and friends all love it.

Try https://www.amazon.com/Secondhand-Time-Soviets-Svetlana-Alexievich/dp/0399588809 also. Author is from Belarus. But it is about our common culture and history. She is the 2015 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

> All media is full of shit: Belgian, US, Russian and Ukranian.

This is exactly how propaganda machine gets you: Nothing Is True Everything Is Possible

While no media can provide an ideal and detailed account of any event, there is a huge difference between a source that gives you 90% truth with some omitted details and a source that gives you 10% of truth and a bunch of specifically created lies like Russian state-controlled media does.

Try those:

http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Cow-Korovka-Rot-Front/dp/B005BYOZ06

I bet she'll be quite excited to see them.

Update: or, better yet, Ukrainian version of those, made by Roshen:

http://www.amazon.com/Imported-Candy-Cow-Korovka-Roshen/dp/B00O6ZVTA0

Hey, first of all, I recommend !ALL! books and publications of Serhii Plokhii, it's a real treasure. But it's not Only about modern history, so if you need info only about last 30 years, try this book.

this book is quite informative: http://www.amazon.com/Borderland-Journey-through-History-Ukraine/dp/0813337925

Plus, of course, you should watch these three movies, which are archetypical for Ukrainian culture:

• "The Lost Charter", the mystic comedy about the heroic period of Ukrainian history; you can see there the image of Cossak's culture of Naddniprianschina (Dnieper area);
  https://youtu.be/rAuHb2LA17U
  
• "The Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors", lyric love tragedy in the Hutsul village, western Carpathian Ukraine;
  https://youtu.be/cREQ9j6fEXI;
  
• "For Two Hares", comedy about the old urban life in Kyiv:
  https://youtu.be/R2gKcPiEYyQ
  
  These three movies are necessary part of the "cultural code" of modern Ukrainians. And you don't really need to understand the language - that's rather for seeing the lifestyle and listening the songs.

Rozmovliaimo is the best textbook. There is also the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute.
http://www.amazon.com/Rozmovliaimo-Lets-Talk-Ukrainian-Conversation/dp/0893573191
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/husi.html

I hear good things about this. http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Europe-History-Ukraine/dp/0465050913

I've heard also many good references about https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Ukrainian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781813247 book. You may also contact the author https://www.facebook.com/yuri.shevchuk.3

I read this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Europe-History-Ukraine/dp/0465094864

It's the history from old times to modern day and it actually concentrates on how Ukraine was always in the middle between east and west.