Author Information: Paul Robert Magocsi was born, raised and educated in the state of New Jersey. After completing undergraduate studies at Rutgers University (1966), he was awarded a Ph.D. from Princeton University (1972). He then went on to Harvard University, where for close to a decade he was a member of the prestigious Society of Fellows (1973-76), a senior research fellow, and a lecturer in the Government Department. A professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto since 1980, Dr. Magocsi was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1996.

Author of, among other things Ukraine: A Historical Atlas (3rd ed., 1987); The Russian Americans (1989); The Rusyns of Slovakia (1993); Editor-in-Chief of of Rusyn History and Culture (2002).

Book Description: In an easy, accessible style, Prof. Magocsi provides a good introduction to the fundamental questions that surround the issue. Why did Russian, Polish and Soviet historians challenge the legitimacy of the concept of a Ukrainian history? How and why did Western historians largely accept this perspective? How did Ukrainian historians answer these arguments?

In so doing, Prof. Magocsi has gone beyond the polemics and produced an eminently useful reference work. The 784-page door-stopper volume was designed as a university textbook, but will also be of interest to the general reader. "Ukrainians are a large people and deserve a large history," Prof. Magocsi said at the official book launch, held at the new premises of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies's University of Toronto on December 12, 1996. (from the Ukrainian Weekly)

The book also addresses a great number of controversial topics head-on, particularly interaction (and collaberation) between Ukrainian militias and the Nazis in Western Ukraine during WWII. 

Recommendation: This book was recommended to me by frequent reader and commenter WRY: "I must also put in a plug for Paul Robert Magocsi's "History of Ukraine". I haven't read Subtelny, but as I understand it, Subtelny's book is more about the Ukrainian people, where Magocsi is concerned with the history of all peoples on the territory that is now Ukraine. But I'll defer to anyone who has read both books."

Book Links

Bio on Carpatho-Rusyns.org (Magocsi has contributed a lot to the study of this region and ethnic group)
Faculty Bio from U Toronto
Ukrainian Weekly book review
Carpatho-Rusyn Article by Magocsi
Powell's
Amazon