Intent to Destroy

Russia's Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine

De: Eugene Finkel

Narrado por: Phillipe Bosher

The full story of how and why Russia has tried to violently subjugate Ukraine across the centuries, and how Ukrainians have resisted

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. And yet, to Ukrainians, this attack was painfully familiar, the latest episode in a centuries-long Russian campaign to divide and oppress Ukraine.

In Intent to Destroy, political scientist Eugene Finkel uncovers these deep roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Ukraine is a key borderland between Russia and the West, and, following the rise of Russian nationalism in the nineteenth century, dominating Ukraine became the cornerstone of Russian policy. Russia has long used genocidal tactics—killings, deportations, starvation, and cultural destruction—to successfully crush Ukrainian efforts to chart an independent path. As Finkel shows, today’s violence is simply a more extreme version of the Kremlin’s long-standing policy. But unlike in the past, the people of Ukraine—motivated by the rise of democracy in their nation—have overcome their deep internal divisions. For the first time, they have united in favor of independence from Russia.

Whatever the outcome of the present war, Ukraine’s staunch resistance has permanently altered its relationship to Russia and the West. Intent to Destroy offers the vital context we need to truly understand Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

©2024 Eugene Finkel (P)2024 Basic Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Eugene Finkel, who correctly called Russia’s war against Ukraine ‘genocidal,’ makes the case here with erudition and verve. Those who want Russian perspectives on the war will find the relevant ones here.”—Timothy Snyder, New York Times-bestselling author of On Tyranny

“Vladimir Putin claims that Russians and Ukrainians are one and the same people, but as Eugene Finkel convincingly argues in his new book, the relationship between the two nations has been anything but brotherly, with Russians doing their best to dominate and recently destroy Ukraine. A powerful antidote to those who claim that NATO is the main culprit responsible for the current war.”—Serhii Plokhy, author of The Russo-Ukrainian War

“Eugene Finkel tells a story of violence, identity, and the final stages of empire in Europe—the story of Ukraine. Starting with attempts by Imperial Russia in the nineteenth century to destroy Ukrainian identity, Intent to Destroy stretches through Stalin's genocidal famine in the 1930s, to Putin's invasion today. However, as Finkel shows, Ukrainian identity, even in military or political defeat, survived until the collapse of the Soviet Union; since then, and especially since 2014, it has evolved into something powerful and enduring. This is a book that can help explain the most important war and geopolitical crisis in Europe today and which does so with clarity, learning and sensitivity. Anyone interested in understanding what is happening in Ukraine today should read it.”—Phillips Payson O’Brien, author of The Strategists