Overview

The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv reveals the local and transnational forces behind the twentieth-century transformation of Lviv into a Soviet and Ukrainian urban center. Lviv's twentieth-century history was marked by violence, population changes, and fundamental transformation ethnically, linguistically, and in terms of its residents' self-perception. Against this background, Tarik Cyril Amar explains a striking paradox: Soviet rule, which came to Lviv in ruthless Stalinist shape and lasted for half a century, left behind the most Ukrainian version of the city in history. In reconstructing this dramatically profound change, Amar illuminates the historical background in present-day identities and tensions within Ukraine.

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9781501735806

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Reviews

Students of modernization and nationalism in the Baltics will find great utility and even inspiration in Tarik Amar's study of historical change in western Ukraine.... Amar's basic argument-that western Ukraine was defined by the short, sharp shock of the Holocaust and Sovietization as much if not more than the interwar or earlier periods-may not be original, but it is developed at a level of detail and verve that sets this work apart.... On the strength of its extensive primary research and cutting-edge analysis, the book is certain to assume a significant place in the historiography of east-central Europe and the Soviet Union. * Journal of Baltic Studies * Amar's mostly chronological journey through Lviv's twentieth-century history challenges the many myths that continue to (mis)shape the city's own reflection of its past. It also adds to our understanding of recurrent tensions in Ukrainian society and the armed conflict between Ukrainian and (pro-)Russian forces in the country's East. * Laboratorium * Meticulously researched.... The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv is clearly written and coherently structured. It presents readers with an accessible entry point to a bewilderingly complicated moment in history.... An impressive undertaking with an even more impressive result. Amar skilfully weaves together a lineage of state policies that vied for power over the Central European borderlands during the twentieth century. The book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Nazi Germany, as well as those interested in authoritarian regimes, nation building and nationalism. * Slavonic & East European Review * A sophisticated study based on extensive archival research in Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and the US.... The result is more than impressive.... Surely, The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv will become a standard text for those who wish to study Soviet modernization. * The American Historical Review * The use of case studies, life histories, and personal sources in Amar's book helps in dealing with complicated theoretical issues and makes the book even more readable.... Amar's study claims a place in the field occupied by Jan Gross in Polish historiography: and that is why the book is destined to become a subject of heated debate. More important, it will provoke further works that challenge both national and imperial myths, and will prompt new problematizing of the issues of historical subjectivity, actorship, and responsibility. * Ab Imperio * Offers further insight into the history of the city during the twentieth century....Puts forward its own singularly challenging perspective on how wartime violence and the administration of the brutal Soviet and Nazi regimes dealt with national identities in shaping interethnic relationships in Eastern Europe. * The Russian Review * Amar does an excellent job describing the specifics of Soviet power in Lviv, as well as how the Soviet authorities perceived the presence of the former regimes that ruled Lviv. * Harvard ukrainian studies * In its skillful mid-20th-century re-narration and source analysis, Amar's noir is a major achievement. Specialists, graduate students and historiographical belligerents in European history should read The Paradox of Ukranian Lviv in order to rethink Ukraine's tumultuous past and present. * Slavic Review * Makes an important contribution to the growing literature on the manner in which the successive violence of the first Soviet occupation, Germany's genocidal war, and the brutal return of the Soviets, combined with local nationalist agendas and prejudices, fed each other in producing an extraordinary degree of violence, mass murder, property transfer, and population displacement. * Kritika * Amar examines [the theme of diversity] with a keen eye, erudition and intellectual rigor. His focus on personal agency is particularly noteworthy. Based on an impressive array of archival sources and other material, Amar suggests a compelling account of persistence and malleability of local identities in the grip of Soviet communism, Nazism and nationalism.... This is a seminal study essential for everyone who wants to get a deeper insight into issues of ethnicity, nationality and nationalism in Eastern Europe. While examining historical consequences of statesponsored political, racial, and social ideologies shaping Europe in the 20th century, Amar's book also leads us to deeper understanding of the role of Lviv in the contemporary political mobilization in Ukraine. * Nations & Nationalism * Amar makes an important contribution to a growing English language historiography of Lviv. * Choice * Deploying a keen eye for contradiction and counterpoint, Tarik Amar's book unpacks how [Ukrainian] identity today rests on [Lviv's] oxymoronic reshaping as 'Soviet Ukrainian' after 1939.... Amar's sustained focus on the related topoi of urban milieu, borderland and Ukrainian identity at large is welcome.... There is much to appreciate here, including pithy phrases, a gifted eye for telling detail and serious archival graft. Amar sheds new light on the realities of political and social life in Soviet Lviv, and gives grounds for reconsidering its influence in the present. * The English Historical Review *

Tarik Cyril Amar has written an excellent and deeply researched study of a multiethnic city in the borderlands of Europe. It is a lasting contribution to the literature on communismnationalism, and ethnic cleansing. -- Jan T. Gross, Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor of War and Society and Professor of History, Princeton University, author of <I>Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland</I> The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv is deeply researched and makes contributions to Ukrainian, Russian/Soviet, East European, and European history. It speaks to all those concerned with the history of the Holocaust and German occupation in the east, in Sovietization, in communism and nationalism, and in urban/regional studies. But that is not all. Anyone following the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine will understand the dramatic and seismic events occurring before our eyes with greater depth in light of the findings of this landmark book. Tarik Amar is one of the best informed and level-headed analysts of contemporary as well as historical events in Ukraine. -- Michael David-Fox, Georgetown University Offers further insight into the history of the city during the twentieth century....Puts forward its own singularly challenging perspective on how wartime violence and the administration of the brutal Soviet and Nazi regimes dealt with national identities in shaping interethnic relationships in Eastern Europe. * The Russian Review * Amar's mostly chronological journey through Lviv's twentieth-century history challenges the many myths that continue to (mis)shape the city's own reflection of its past. It also adds to our understanding of recurrent tensions in Ukrainian society and the armed conflict between Ukrainian and (pro-)Russian forces in the country's East. * Laboratorium * Meticulously researched.... The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv is clearly written and coherently structured. It presents readers with an accessible entry point to a bewilderingly complicated moment in history.... An impressive undertaking with an even more impressive result. Amar skilfully weaves together a lineage of state policies that vied for power over the Central European borderlands during the twentieth century. The book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Nazi Germany, as well as those interested in authoritarian regimes, nation building and nationalism. * Slavonic & East European Review * Amar makes an important contribution to a growing English language historiography of Lviv. * Choice * Makes an important contribution to the growing literature on the manner in which the successive violence of the first Soviet occupation, Germany's genocidal war, and the brutal return of the Soviets, combined with local nationalist agendas and prejudices, fed each other in producing an extraordinary degree of violence, mass murder, property transfer, and population displacement. * Kritika * Students of modernization and nationalism in the Baltics will find great utility and even inspiration in Tarik Amar's study of historical change in western Ukraine.... Amar's basic argument-that western Ukraine was defined by the short, sharp shock of the Holocaust and Sovietization as much if not more than the interwar or earlier periods-may not be original, but it is developed at a level of detail and verve that sets this work apart.... On the strength of its extensive primary research and cutting-edge analysis, the book is certain to assume a significant place in the historiography of east-central Europe and the Soviet Union. * Journal of Baltic Studies * Amar examines [the theme of diversity] with a keen eye, erudition and intellectual rigor. His focus on personal agency is particularly noteworthy. Based on an impressive array of archival sources and other material, Amar suggests a compelling account of persistence and malleability of local identities in the grip of Soviet communism, Nazism and nationalism.... This is a seminal study essential for everyone who wants to get a deeper insight into issues of ethnicity, nationality and nationalism in Eastern Europe. While examining historical consequences of statesponsored political, racial, and social ideologies shaping Europe in the 20th century, Amar's book also leads us to deeper understanding of the role of Lviv in the contemporary political mobilization in Ukraine. * Nations & Nationalism * A sophisticated study based on extensive archival research in Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and the US.... The result is more than impressive.... Surely, The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv will become a standard text for those who wish to study Soviet modernization. * The American Historical Review * Deploying a keen eye for contradiction and counterpoint, Tarik Amar's book unpacks how [Ukrainian] identity today rests on [Lviv's] oxymoronic reshaping as 'Soviet Ukrainian' after 1939.... Amar's sustained focus on the related topoi of urban milieu, borderland and Ukrainian identity at large is welcome.... There is much to appreciate here, including pithy phrases, a gifted eye for telling detail and serious archival graft. Amar sheds new light on the realities of political and social life in Soviet Lviv, and gives grounds for reconsidering its influence in the present. * The English Historical Review * The use of case studies, life histories, and personal sources in Amar's book helps in dealing with complicated theoretical issues and makes the book even more readable.... Amar's study claims a place in the field occupied by Jan Gross in Polish historiography: and that is why the book is destined to become a subject of heated debate. More important, it will provoke further works that challenge both national and imperial myths, and will prompt new problematizing of the issues of historical subjectivity, actorship, and responsibility. * Ab Imperio * In its skillful mid-20th-century re-narration and source analysis, Amar's noir is a major achievement. Specialists, graduate students and historiographical belligerents in European history should read The Paradox of Ukranian Lviv in order to rethink Ukraine's tumultuous past and present. * Slavic Review *

Deploying a keen eye for contradiction and counterpoint, Tarik Amar's book unpacks how [Ukrainian] identity today rests on [Lviv's] oxymoronic reshaping as 'Soviet Ukrainian' after 1939.... Amar's sustained focus on the related topoi of urban milieu, borderland and Ukrainian identity at large is welcome.... There is much to appreciate here, including pithy phrases, a gifted eye for telling detail and serious archival graft. Amar sheds new light on the realities of political and social life in Soviet Lviv, and gives grounds for reconsidering its influence in the present. * The English Historical Review * Amar makes an important contribution to a growing English language historiography of Lviv. * Choice * Amar examines [the theme of diversity] with a keen eye, erudition and intellectual rigor. His focus on personal agency is particularly noteworthy. Based on an impressive array of archival sources and other material, Amar suggests a compelling account of persistence and malleability of local identities in the grip of Soviet communism, Nazism and nationalism.... This is a seminal study essential for everyone who wants to get a deeper insight into issues of ethnicity, nationality and nationalism in Eastern Europe. While examining historical consequences of statesponsored political, racial, and social ideologies shaping Europe in the 20th century, Amar's book also leads us to deeper understanding of the role of Lviv in the contemporary political mobilization in Ukraine. * Nations & Nationalism * Makes an important contribution to the growing literature on the manner in which the successive violence of the first Soviet occupation, Germany's genocidal war, and the brutal return of the Soviets, combined with local nationalist agendas and prejudices, fed each other in producing an extraordinary degree of violence, mass murder, property transfer, and population displacement. * Kritika * In its skillful mid-20th-century re-narration and source analysis, Amar's noir is a major achievement. Specialists, graduate students and historiographical belligerents in European history should read The Paradox of Ukranian Lviv in order to rethink Ukraine's tumultuous past and present. * Slavic Review * Amar does an excellent job describing the specifics of Soviet power in Lviv, as well as how the Soviet authorities perceived the presence of the former regimes that ruled Lviv. * Harvard ukrainian studies * Offers further insight into the history of the city during the twentieth century....Puts forward its own singularly challenging perspective on how wartime violence and the administration of the brutal Soviet and Nazi regimes dealt with national identities in shaping interethnic relationships in Eastern Europe. * The Russian Review * The use of case studies, life histories, and personal sources in Amar's book helps in dealing with complicated theoretical issues and makes the book even more readable.... Amar's study claims a place in the field occupied by Jan Gross in Polish historiography: and that is why the book is destined to become a subject of heated debate. More important, it will provoke further works that challenge both national and imperial myths, and will prompt new problematizing of the issues of historical subjectivity, actorship, and responsibility. * Ab Imperio * A sophisticated study based on extensive archival research in Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and the US.... The result is more than impressive.... Surely, The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv will become a standard text for those who wish to study Soviet modernization. * The American Historical Review * Meticulously researched.... The Paradox of Ukrainian Lviv is clearly written and coherently structured. It presents readers with an accessible entry point to a bewilderingly complicated moment in history.... An impressive undertaking with an even more impressive result. Amar skilfully weaves together a lineage of state policies that vied for power over the Central European borderlands during the twentieth century. The book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Nazi Germany, as well as those interested in authoritarian regimes, nation building and nationalism. * Slavonic & East European Review * Amar's mostly chronological journey through Lviv's twentieth-century history challenges the many myths that continue to (mis)shape the city's own reflection of its past. It also adds to our understanding of recurrent tensions in Ukrainian society and the armed conflict between Ukrainian and (pro-)Russian forces in the country's East. * Laboratorium * Students of modernization and nationalism in the Baltics will find great utility and even inspiration in Tarik Amar's study of historical change in western Ukraine.... Amar's basic argument-that western Ukraine was defined by the short, sharp shock of the Holocaust and Sovietization as much if not more than the interwar or earlier periods-may not be original, but it is developed at a level of detail and verve that sets this work apart.... On the strength of its extensive primary research and cutting-edge analysis, the book is certain to assume a significant place in the historiography of east-central Europe and the Soviet Union. * Journal of Baltic Studies *

Author Information

Tarik Cyril Amar is Associate Professor in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Koc University.

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