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'A masterpiece' Peter Pomerantsev
'Powerful' Serhii Plokhy
'Fascinating' Daily TelegraphA history of Russian violence waged against Ukraine across the centuries.
Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. And yet this attack was in fact the latest episode in a centuries-long Russian campaign. In
Intent to Destroy, leading scholar of genocide and Eastern Europe Eugene Finkel uncovers the deep roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Ever since the rise of Russian nationalism in the nineteenth century, the domination of this key borderland has become a cornerstone of Russian and Soviet policy. Using genocidal tactics - killings, deportations, starvation and cultural destruction - against ethnic Ukrainians and minorities including Tatars, Jews and Poles, Russia's long-standing policy has aimed to obliterate Ukrainian identity. This eradication has consistently been a part of the Kremlin playbook and leads inexorably to the violence we see today.
Told with the astonishing power of Finkel's connection to this living history, and the authority of two decades of research,
Intent to Destroy casts today's war it its broadest historical context, illuminating as never before Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
About the author
Eugene Finkel is Kenneth H. Keller Professor of International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The author or coauthor of three previous books, his writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The Spectator and Foreign Affairs. He was born in Lviv, Ukraine, and lives in Bologna, Italy.
