Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation

by Yaroslav Hrystak

Published in Ukrainian in 2022; English translation published in the UK in 2023; 438 pages in length, including acknowledgements and a selected biography.

Reviewed by Peter McKenzie-Brown

My off-the-wall book presentation stretches the geography theme quite a bit. The author is a Ukrainian academic; the book was translated by Dominique Hoffman in 2023, as the country defended itself against war and invasion from the USSR. In the book’s acknowledgements, Hrystak says “I have the impression that thanks to her, my book sounds better in English than in Eukraine. I am thankful.”

A professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Kiev, the author delivers an enlightening history intended for serious readers like the gentlemen reading this review. Among other things, you will discover that familiarity with Western European history is of little help in comprehending the vast lands and people of Ukraine. Ethnically, the country is quite diverse.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, people around the world witnessed the remarkable reality of contemporary Ukraine, which has a key place in Western Europe: It is the breadbasket of Europe – a reality described in the book’s first interlude chapter, titled “A Brief History of Ukrainian Bread.” The book’s other two such chapters are titled “A Brief History of Ukrainian Song” and “A brief History of the Ukrainian Borderland.”

In this superb book, the author presents the millennium of Ukrainian history with humour, but also covers the dangers the country has often encountered. It tells the Ukraine story through what strikes me as a balanced analysis of events, conflicts, and developments that have shaped it over the course of centuries. So doing, he weaves a rich and detailed tapestry of a country in continual transformation.
 
Ukraine is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the country’s dramatic past and its global significance - from the 17th-century Cossack uprising to the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and Ukrainian independence, and from the evolution of the Ukrainian language to the warning signs that anticipated Russia’s invasion almost three years ago.

This book is the definitive story of Ukraine and its people, as told by one of its most celebrated voices. Published in 2022, the book required a long introduction to account for Russia’s invasion.

More than 1,000 years ago, Vikings from Scandinavia moved east, mixing with Slavic tribes to form a huge realm centered on Kyiv, in today’s Ukraine. Although comprising a distinct culture, Ukrainians never coalesced as a state, and the opportunity vanished in 1772-1796, when its neighbors partitioned the territory. Russia absorbed most Ukrainians, and Austria-Hungary the rest. Nonetheless, Ukrainian nationalism flourished throughout the 19th century. Under Lenin, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic enjoyed modest autonomy, but its peasants were strongly resistant to Stalin’s laws of collectivization.

This book is riveting to history nerds like yours truly. Hrytsak tells the story of his nation through a meticulous examination of the major events, conflicts, and developments that shaped it over the course of centuries. Granted that I haven’t read other histories of this country, but my strong opinion is that this one is definitive.

Book Review: Thomas d'Aquino Private Power, Public Purpose

Book Review

 

 

d'Aquino, Thomas;

Private Power, Public Purpose: Bronowski, Jacob, The Ascent of Man; 

Private Power Public Purpose: Adventures in Business, Politics

and the Arts 

Published by Signal, an imprint of McLelland and Stewart; 2023 

462 pages, plus a 10-page index. 

This is yet another book I found in a book box, and one of the most interesting I have read in recent years. In his time, d’Aquino was almost a force of nature on the global stage.  

The author spent five decades at the intersection of political and business power in this country. As the long-serving chief executive of the Business Council of Canada, he was an adviser to three generations of prime ministers on the political side, and to business CEOs in the corporate world. 

 

I don’t know whether d’Aquino has an astonishing memory or keeps detailed records: I suspect both are true. Think back on almost any important economic issue in your lifetime: Free trade, the National Energy Program, Quebec separation, the global financial crisis. D’Aquino was a central player in these dramas, and in many more.  

The book is riveting from start to finish – a a superb commentary on Canadian and global business since Expo 67, which was about the time he finished university. It’s a dissertation on the evolution of Canadian public policy, but it also delivers warnings about what ails Canada, and ideas about how to fix it.

 

Ever wondered what happens in Davos, when business and political elite gather in the Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum? D’Aquino captures – and defends – the magic of these meetings by detailing a 1995 dinner that saw him, hedge-fund billionaire George Soros and mining entrepreneur Peter Munk conclude their meal by writing a sternly worded letter to then-finance minister Paul Martin. The trio warned that Canada’s soaring deficits were turning the country “into an honorary member of the Third World.” Several weeks later, d’Aquino says, Martin tabled the first in a series of austerity budgets and vowed to slay the deficit. 

The child of Italian immigrants, d’Aquino spent the early years of his career as a lawyer and business consultant, with stints in London and Paris. His international experience shaped a belief that corporate leaders have a right, and an obligation, to be engaged in influencing public policy. That view was at odds with the two solitudes of business and government that prevailed in Canada through to the 1970s.

When the CEOs running a predecessor to the Business Council of Canada hired d’Aquino in 1981 to bridge the deep divide by building ties to government, they endorsed his vision of capitalism linked to social purpose. D’Aquino was an early advocate of the concept that chief executives must serve multiple stakeholders, not just investors. It’s now a mainstream view. 

To illustrate just one of the ideas he covers, consider Chapter 17, titled “Special Moments with Leaders.” Here he covers interviews he had with political and businesspeople we all know: Joe Clark, Jimmy Pattison, Paul Desmarais Sr., Beverly McLachlin, David Johnston, Peter Lougheed, Jean Chretien – the list goes on, and his commentaries are superb.

  

Summary? I love this book. It's superb!