A beautifully illustrated and comprehensive graphic history of Ukraine's centuries-long struggle against Russian domination, from the Middle Ages to today's devastating war, by an award-winning journalist and Ukrainian cultural historian
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began long before the 2014 war that led to the Russia's invasion in 2022. The Ukrainian people have been subjected to systematic persecution and mass atrocities by Russian and Soviet authorities across centuries-from the linguicide of the Ukrainian language and censorship of literature in the 1860s to the Holomodor famine of the 1930s, and more.
In A Brief History of a Long War , distinguished Ukrainian scholar, activist, and journalist Mariam Naiem presents a panoramic overview of the major moments in this longstanding conflict. Alongside gripping accounts of the historical foundation of the modern Ukrainian state as we know it today, Naiem seamlessly incorporates current narratives about the harrowing realities of war and the lengths citizens must go to survive.
Featuring gorgeous illustrations by Ukrainian artists Yulia Vus and Ivan Kypibida, A Brief History of a Long War is an ode to the moments of resistance and resilience from the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia's oppressive, colonial history.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Journalist and cultural historian Naiem delivers a sweeping yet accessible account of Ukraine's centuries-long resistance to Russian domination in this ambitious graphic history. Spanning from the medieval rise of the Cossacks to the 1930s Holodomor famine and into the ongoing war following Russia's 2022 invasion, the narrative situates current events within a broader continuum of colonial violence and cultural erasure. Naiem's text balances scholarly rigor with clarity, ensuring that readers unfamiliar with Eastern European history are able to easily follow century-spanning threads of suppression, survival, and identity. Particularly striking is Naiem's attention to "linguicide"--19th-century policies that aimed to eliminate the Ukrainian language--which underscores the centrality of culture in struggles for sovereignty. Artists Vus and Kypibida render these histories with a combination of folkloric stylization and expressive modern linework. The result is both aesthetically distinctive and emotionally resonant, with stark depictions of atrocity set against inspiring images of endurance. Though the subject matter is often harrowing, the book ultimately presents Ukraine's history not as a cycle of victimhood but as an ongoing assertion of national identity. VERDICT A vital work of graphic history and essential reading for those seeking context on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Publishers Weekly Review
The informative and inspiring graphic nonfiction debut by Ukrainian researcher and podcaster Naiem assumes that most readers outside Ukraine know little of its history. In a framing device, a woman named Vika takes shelter from bomb blasts and finds solidarity with her fellow evacuees. From there, Naiem deftly synthesizes past and present as she tracks tensions from 10th-century Kyivan Rus, when a powerful, newly Christian Ukraine was closely tied to Byzantium, up through Russia's recent and ongoing attempts to seize Ukrainian territory under the guise of "liberating" Russian speakers from fascism. Ukraine's tradition of courageous resistance is well documented by Naiem, as is its long history of oppression at the hands of Russia. During the Holodomor (Great Famine) of 1932--1933, an estimated 3.3 million Ukrainians died because of Soviet theft of land and grain--but numerous peasant farmers fought back. This spirit continues in the pro-democracy Orange Revolution and recent grassroots fundraising to supply soldiers resisting Russian military attacks. Artists Vus and Kypibid's delicately shaded, innovatively paneled pencil work makes room for just one color: orange--not only for accents, but for backgrounds, walls of flame, and entire crowd scenes. The effect suggests a people inseparable from their drive for freedom. This packs a punch. (Jan.)
Kirkus Book Review
Ukraine's history of conflict with Russian invaders is explored with graphic specificity. This graphic exploration of Ukraine's conflict-defined history with Russia drops the reader right into the midst of the current war, during a bombing raid that sends the protagonist from her apartment into a community bomb shelter. Her conversations with neighbors in the shelter serve as an opportunity to highlight essential aspects of Ukrainian history. Before she even leaves her apartment, she reflects on the Holodomor, a nationwide famine that occurred because Russian occupiers withheld grain from the Ukrainian farmers who had produced it. Arriving in the shelter, she hears someone affectionately call a child a Cossack, which occasions a discursion on the history of these illustrious Ukrainian forces. Other shelter mates mention experiences and historical knowledge that spin off into explorations of the country's millennium-deep roots in the Kyivan Rus, the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, the suppression of the Ukrainian language, and a number of historic and modern conflicts with Russia. These interwoven moments capture the spirit of a "long war," centuries of intermittent conflict that have most recently manifested in a full-scale invasion beginning in 2022. For readers who possess a grounded understanding of Ukrainians' fight for sovereignty, the book paints a powerful picture of a country with a centuries-long mandate to defend and define itself. For those who have engaged only superficially with Eastern European history or contemporary politics, this deliberate but nonlinear history, which stops short of explicitly stating its goals, may leave them with more questions than comprehension. Orange, black-and-gray illustrations walk a fine line between emotional expressiveness and documentary directness, making them unsettling and occasionally lovely to look at. An impassioned illumination of the historical precedents undergirding Ukraine's national identity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
TextTen Speed Graphic 20260127ISBN: