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Everyone is welcome to this free event - Ukrainian Book Club discussing Chapter 4 of A Brief History of Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation by Yaroslav Hrytsak.To all lovers of books, history, culture, art, and community. And to all interested in Ukraine.
📅Date: February 2, 2026 (Monday)
🕰️Time: 6pm-7:30pm
🗺️Location: Sprague Branch (2131 1100 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84106), Meeting Room (downstairs)
🌟Free attendance. Feel free to bring your non-alcoholic beverage and snacks.
📕Book: A Brief History of Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation by Yaroslav Hrytsak, Chapter 4+Short History of Ukrainian Bread and Song (pages 74-138)
The Salt Lake City Public Library System has three copies: https://slcpl.na2.iiivega.com/search/card?id=f78020ba-471b-5c07-887c-a68dddd53d13&entityType=FormatGroup
You can also get the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Ukraine-Forging-Nation/dp/1541704606
A “pioneering and fundamental” (Timothy Snyder) new history of Ukraine from one of its leading public intellectuals.
Chapter 4 talks about Ukrainian medieval warriors, the Cossacks, and their state - The Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate (17th–18th centuries), which was an early Ukrainian state formed during a struggle for self-rule in a region dominated by powerful neighbors, especially the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy (Russia). Led by an elected Hetman, the Cossack state combined military organization with civil administration. Its army was made up largely of free Cossacks — land-owning soldiers who valued autonomy, local self-government, and Orthodox faith. The Hetmanate fought not only to defend territory but to preserve Ukrainian political independence and cultural identity.
The Cossack Hetmanate can be compared to early American formations such as colonial militias and Minutemen. Both emerged in frontier regions where local communities organized their own defense while seeking political self-rule. Soldiers were largely citizen-farmers who tied military service to land ownership and local decision-making.
Like American revolutionary leaders, the Hetman combined military leadership with political authority, though Americans more quickly separated civilian and military power. Both societies valued personal freedom and resisted distant imperial control —Cossacks against surrounding empires, Americans against Britain.
The main difference is that the Hetmanate remained a semi-autonomous military state within larger empires, while American militias helped create a fully independent nation. Despite this, both represent early forms of citizen-based self-governing defense systems that shaped national identity
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Sprague Branch, Salt Lake City Public Library, 2131 S Highland Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84106-2806, United States
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