David and Goliath: Commentaries on the Russo-Ukrainian War
Date and Time
Location
A book launch and discussion with Serhii Plokhy, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Department of History, Harvard University
Moderated by Oleh Kotsyuba, Director of Print and Digital Publications at HURI
Books will be available to purchase at the event.
About the Book
The biblical image of David and Goliath captures fittingly the nature of the war that Russia, the world’s largest country by surface area, unleashed on neighboring Ukraine, a country that— while still the largest on the European continent—is almost thirty times smaller and has only over a quarter of Russia’s population. Yet Ukraine's stubborn resistance proves that it is possible to mount a successful defense against an enormously larger, more populous, and better-equipped enemy, even despite Russia's threats of nuclear apocalypse should Ukraine refuse to submit and the West interfere. This volume shows that history can help reveal the reasons for Ukraine’s resolve and success both on the battlefield and in the public arena.
Collected here for the first time are short essays, commentaries, and interviews written and given by Serhii Plokhy, the world’s preeminent scholar of Ukrainian history, on the eve and during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Plokhy draws our attention to the unique nature of the largest war in Europe since the end of World War II as its events become part of history. [source]
About the Speaker
Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi Professor of History in the Department of History, Harvard University. His research interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. He teaches courses and seminars on early modern and modern East European history that engage major problems in the history of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania.
Dr. Plokhii's many publications include the following monographs: The Nuclear Age: An Epic Race for Arms, Power, and Survival (W. W. Norton, 2025); Chernobyl Roulette: War in the Nuclear Disaster Zone (W. W. Norton, 2024); The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History (W. W. Norton, 2023); Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters (W. W. Norton, 2022); Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (W. W. Norton, 2021); Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance (Oxford University Press, 2019); Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe (Basic Books, 2018); The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (Basic Books, 2015); The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union (Basic Books, 2015); The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Yalta: The Price of Peace (Viking/Penguin, 2010; 2011); Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past (University of Toronto Press, 2008); and The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
This event is organized by HURI as part of the Seminar in Ukrainian Studies public event series and HURI Books Program.
Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access should contact HURI (huri@fas.harvard.edu) at least two weeks in advance of the session.
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