This is simply the finest work available in the English language
on the Cossacks. It is not only encyclopedic in its treatment of
the subject,drawing on historical and ethnograhic materials in
Ukrainian,Russian,Polish,Turkish and Swedish sources but often
reads as fast moving as an adventure novel. Hrushevsky not only
recites dry facts and dates but puts forth both fascinating and
compelling analysis of the importance of the Cossacks to both the
idea and formation of the Ukrainian nation and the history of
Eastern Europe as a whole. Anyone who thrilled to Gogol's" Taras
Bulba" or the historical fiction of Harold Lamb and wants to learn of the true background of the Zaporozhian Cossacks of the
Sietch , simply cannot pass by this work. As fine as the works of
Nicholas Chirovsky, Linda Gordon,Patrick March and Phillip Long-worth are on the subject, they cannot compare to this comprehen-
sive volume.