Appropriation or the White Sun of Crimea

<p>I began writing this book in the summer of 2015 when the fate of Ukraine's nationhood hung by a thread. The tanking economy drawn-out war misguided political leadership inexperienced nascent patriotic elite - everything about the situation was practically in zugzwang.</p><p>On these July days I practically forced myself to go into town on business tearing through the 40-degree heat. At some point after coming out of another meeting I understood: we cannot go a single step further unless we genuinely rethink what's happened to us - starting with the Maidan Uprising. Ukraine's recent history paid for in blood must at least be spoken aloud.</p><p><br></p><p>I knew that several accounts more or less describing the developments of the Maidan Uprising came out around that time as well as Taras Berezovets's book Annexation: Island of Crimea. As harsh as it sounds I don't really trust court chroniclers; books like that should be written by independent historians or journalists. We became used to writing about dramatic events in recent history from the perspective of a participant on either side of the barricade. Me? I'm only a journalist. My aim is to find and make sense of information which is what I attempted to do in this book.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>