From Library Journal
Now the capital of independent Ukraine, Kiev has had a long and varied history. The center of Russian national development during medieval times (Kievan Rus), it was one of the great European cities until the Mongol juggernaut of A.D. 1240 reduced it to obscure backwater status for almost 600 years. The author (history, Centre Coll., Kentucky) carefully examines those forces that prompted its 19th-century renaissance, e.g., a geographical predisposition to become a major agricultural and communications center. He also explores such topics as Kiev's extraordinary ethnic diversity, its social and cultural resources, and its role in an emerging revolutionary tradition. The heavy use of statistics and general avoidance of the dramatic clearly circumscribe the book's potential audience, but as the first "biography" of Kiev readily available in English, this should be added to most academic collections.- Mark R. Yerburgh, Fern Ridge Community Lib., Veneta, Ore.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
Compelling reading.... Hamm's study of Kiev is a finely honed work. It conveys ... a sense of place, a feel for a city undergoing rapid, often profoundly unsettling change.


Book Description
In a fascinating "urban biography," Michael Hamm tells the story of one of Europe's most diverse cities and its distinctive mix of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish inhabitants. A splendid urban center in medieval times, Kiev became a major metropolis in late Imperial Russia, and is now the capital of independent Ukraine. After a concise account of Kiev's early history, Hamm focuses on the city's dramatic growth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first historian to analyze how each of Kiev's ethnic groups contributed to the vitality of the city's culture, he also examines the violent conflicts that developed among them. In vivid detail, he shows why Kiev came to be known for its "abundance of revolutionaries" and its anti-Semitic violence.


From the Back Cover
"A unique and vivid picture of the evolution of one of the principle cities of Eastern Europe. The importance of careful study of the ethnic dimensions to Ukrainian (and Kievan) history is obvious. Hamm's work makes a thoughtful, scholarly, and balanced contribution to this project. No comparable histories of Kiev exist. In a larger perspective, this book is the best of the few urban biographies on imperial Russian cities."--Daniel Brower, University of California, Davis

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a fascinating "urban biography," Michael Hamm tells the story of one of Europe's most diverse cities and its distinctive mix of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish inhabitants. A splendid urban center in medieval times, Kiev became a major metropolis in late Imperial Russia, and is now the capital of independent Ukraine. After a concise account of Kiev's early history, Hamm focuses on the city's dramatic growth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first historian to analyze how each of Kiev's ethnic groups contributed to the vitality of the city's culture, he also examines the violent conflicts that developed among them. In vivid detail, he shows why Kiev came to be known for its "abundance of revolutionaries" and its anti-Semitic violence.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Now the capital of independent Ukraine, Kiev has had a long and varied history. The center of Russian national development during medieval times (Kievan Rus), it was one of the great European cities until the Mongol juggernaut of A.D. 1240 reduced it to obscure backwater status for almost 600 years. The author (history, Centre Coll., Kentucky) carefully examines those forces that prompted its 19th-century renaissance, e.g., a geographical predisposition to become a major agricultural and communications center. He also explores such topics as Kiev's extraordinary ethnic diversity, its social and cultural resources, and its role in an emerging revolutionary tradition. The heavy use of statistics and general avoidance of the dramatic clearly circumscribe the book's potential audience, but as the first ``biography'' of Kiev readily available in English, this should be added to most academic collections.-- Mark R. Yerburgh, Fern Ridge Community Lib., Veneta, Ore.

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