Books, eBooks and Movies About the History and Culture of Ukraine

Did you know that Jan Brett’s famous children’s picture book, The Mitten, was inspired by a Ukrainian folk tale? Here we’ve collected a list of books and movies for adults and children interested in learning more about the culture and history of Ukraine. Also check out a more exhaustive (and scholarly) list curated by the folks at the New York Public Library by clicking here.

 

Children

• The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
• Don’t Tell the Nazis by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
• Holodomor: the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide by Philip Wolny
• The Mitten: a Ukrainian Folktale by Jan Brett
• The Spider’s Gift: a Ukrainian Christmas Story by Eric A. Kimmel and Katya Krenina
• Ukraine by Deborah Kent
• Ukraine by Alicia Klepeis
• Ukrainian Egg Decoration: a Holiday Tradition by Ann Stalcup

 

Adult 

Fiction

• Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva
• I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart
• Life Went On Anyway: Stories by Oleg Sentsov
• The Orphanage: a Novel by Serhii Zhadan
• Sisters of War by Lana Kortchik
• Something Unbelievable: a Novel by Maria Kuznetsova

 

Non-fiction

• Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine by Sophie Pinkham
• Conflict in Ukraine: the Unwinding of the Post-Cold War Order by Rajan Menon
• The Gates of Europe: a History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy
• In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine by Tim Judah
• Mamushka: a Cookbook by Olia Hercules
• Maybe Esther: a Family Story by Katja Petrowskaja
• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
• Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams by Charles King
• Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum
• Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals
• Ukrainian Easter Eggs and How We Make Them by Ann Kmit
• The Veselka Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Landmark Restaurant in New York’s East Village by Tom Birchard
• Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Aleksievich

 

Movies

• Bitter Harvest
• The Conqueror
• Maidan
• The Tribe

 

Online

Hoopla

• Absolute Zero by Artem Chekh (available as ebook)
• The Binge: The Great Food Adventure from Ukraine to America with Numerous Detours by Maria K. (available as audiobook)
• The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy (available as audiobook)
• Hip Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration by Adriana N. Helbig (available as ebook)
• Leaving My Homeland: A Refugee’s Journey from Ukraine by Ellen Rodger (available as ebook)
• Medieval Ukraine (available as audiobook)
• My Ukraine: A Personal Reflection on a Nation’s Dream of Independence and the Nightmare Vladimir Putin Has Visited Upon It by Chrystia Freeland (available as ebook)
• Prehistoric Ukraine (available as ebook)
• Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk (available as audiobook)

Overdrive

• Absolute Zero by Artem Chekh (available as ebook)
• The Gates of Europe: a History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy (available as ebook or audiobook)
• In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine by Tim Judah (available as ebook or audiobook)
• Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum (available as ebook or audiobook)
• The Sky Unwashed: a Novel by Irene Zabytko (available as ebook)

Kanopy

Check out Kanopy’s curated collection, Conflict in Ukraine!