The Gates of Europe

The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine audiobook, by author Serhii Plokhy, translated by Richard Janda. Narrated by Jaromír Meduna, directed by Helena Rytířová. The tragic history of a European nation. Ukraine is currently fighting Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. However, the current conflict is just the latest in a long series of battles for Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy writes in his book The Gates of Europe, to understand Ukraine's present and future, one must first understand its past. Ukraine has been shaped by empires that used it as a strategic gateway between East and West – from the Roman and Ottoman Empires to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. For centuries, its territory has been a meeting point for different cultures. The mingling of settled and nomadic peoples, and of Christianity and Islam in the steppe borderlands, gave rise to a class of warlike Cossacks; the clash between the Catholic and Orthodox churches gave birth to a religious tradition that brought Western and Eastern Christianity closer together. The current crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, with Ukraine once again at the centre of a battle of global proportions. As an authoritative history of this important country, The Gates of Europe offers a unique insight into the origins of the most serious international crisis since the Cold War.