When the Ukrainian Sun Rises

An exploration of how memories of the Holodomor famine shaped Ukraine's national identity, existential threat perceptions, and resistance against Russia

For many international observers of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Holodomor is the most important story they have never heard. When the Ukrainian Sun Rises explores the domestic, international, and geopolitical implications of this 1932–33 genocide—an artificial famine in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Ukraine that killed at least 4 million people and changed Ukrainian society forever.

Against the backdrop of the current war between Ukraine and Russia, Hook draws on multiyear ethnographic fieldwork across Ukraine, and probes the dynamics and legacy of the Holodomor through the eyes of today's Ukrainian leaders from the political, legal, activist, and academic fields. Never-before-published interviews uncover a paradox: Although this singular event nearly destroyed Ukraine, it also provided the narrative storyline by which contemporary leaders would one day seek to rebuild their nation.

Now, as the Kremlin wages a new genocidal war against Ukraine, this book explains how memories of the Holodomor have shaped Ukrainian leaders' existential threat perceptions since 2014 and have sparked a postcolonial reclamation process that undergirds the country's stunning resistance today. This book will appeal to policymakers and those in think tanks as well as to students and scholars of international relations and anthropology.