The well-known political scientist John A. Armstrong described Mykhailo Hrushevsky's multi-volume, academic History of Ukraine-Rus' as crucial in the formation of modern Ukrainian national identity. Certainly the appearance of the Lithuanian-Polish cycle of his magnum opus (volumes 4-6, 1903-1907) provided a scholarly explanation for continuity in Ukrainian history and set the tone for Ukrainian perspectives on the role of Poland in Ukraine's past. At the same time, the volumes challenged numerous Polish national myths about Poland's civilizing mission in the East and the Jagiellonian idea. Hrushevsky wrote volume four, dealing with political relations from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, in Lviv at a time of increasing Polish-Ukrainian confrontation in which the city's university, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and the figure of Hrushevsky himself played prominent roles.
On the occasion of the publication of the English translation of volume four, the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies invites you to a presentation by Professor Frank Sysyn, director of the Jacyk Centre, about the tome's significance and Hrushevsky's role in Polish-Ukrainian relations, including the controversies that arose during the 2016 celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Hrushevsky's birth. The talk will also focus on the importance of philanthropy in the support of scholarship on Ukraine, including the very formation of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, which published the original volumes.
The English translation of the History of Ukraine-Rus' was made possible by the philanthropy of the late Mr. Peter Jacyk and the Petro Jacyk Educational Foundation, now headed by Ms. Nadia Jacyk. Recent volumes have been published with the assistance of the estate of Edward Brodacky. Preparation of this volume was sponsored and generously supported by the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.
The lecture and launch will be held in Edmonton at St. John's Institute which from its establishment in 1918 until 1944 was known as the M. Hrushevsky Ukrainian Institute. Andrew Hladyshevsky, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko, will be presented with a copy of the volume.
Mykhailo Hrushevsky, History of Ukraine-Rus', Volume 4: Political Relations in the Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries Translated by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj. Edited by Robert Frost and Yaroslav Fedoruk, consulting editors, and Frank E. Sysyn, editor in chief, with the assistance of Myroslav Yurkevich. Edmonton and Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2017. 574 (civ + 470) pages.