The Near Abroad: Socialist Eastern Europe and Soviet Patriotism in Ukraine, 1956-1985

‘Wojnowski’s book is an excellent tool for better understanding recent (post-1989) historical and political relations between Ukraine and Poland.’

T.R. Weeks, Choice Magazine vol 55:05:2018

"Behind the filter of Soviet rhetoric…Wojnowski restores voices, representing a spectrum of attitudes, often complex and ambiguous. The result is an original, balanced, and well-organized work, a significant contribution to our understanding of the late Soviet period and the field of Ukrainian studies."

Per Anders Rudling, Lund University, Slavic Review, vol 78 no 2

"Wojnowski frames his monograph in a way that encourages scholars to see Soviet Ukraine the way politically savvy Soviet Ukrainians saw it, as a bulwark of Sovietness confronting a sea of suspicious Central Europeans on its borders. This perspective is important not only because it persists in today’s Ukraine but also because it has been largely overlooked by scholars who, like many in the Soviet center, could never quite take Ukraine’s proclamations of Soviet loyalty at face value. Wojnowski’s study forces scholars to examine their own stereotypes about Soviet Ukraine by seeing it through the eyes of its not at all silent Soviet loyal majority."

Kathryn David, Ab Imperio

"The Near Abroad is a brave book that makes bold claims. Marshalling and triangulating a wide range of sources, Zbigniew Wojnowski provides an informed and honest analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of those sources and how he works with them. The Near Abroad will be useful to those students, scholars, and members of the public alike, who want to understand the forces that forged today’s Ukraine, its relations with its neighbours, and its relationship with the West.

Tracy McDonald, Associate Professor of History, McMaster University

"In The Near Abroad, Zbigniew Wojnowski traces today’s crisis in Ukraine to late Soviet policies and politics, including an original use of the now familiar term ‘near abroad’ and the mobilization of World War II-era political labels like fascism. His conscious insistence not to treat Soviet Ukraine within the paradigm of Soviet nationality policies is a testament to the author’s originality."

Mark von Hagen, Professor of History, Arizona State University