BOOK NOTES

Study in iconography provides glimpse of Kozaks' relations with God and the tsar

"Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography," by Serhii Plokhy. Cambridge, Mass.: Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University Press, 2002. 101 pp., illus., ISBN 0-916458-95-4. $18.95 (paperback).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The release of the second book published earlier this year by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, "Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography," was made possible by the Dr. Omeljan and Iryna Wolynec Publication Fund. The book's author, Serhii Plokhy, the 2002 Petro Jacyk Distinguished Fellow at HURI, explores the ways in which Ukrainian Kozaks used icon painting to navigate not only their relationship vis-à-vis God, but also vis-à-vis the Russian tsar.

Richly illustrated and well documented, this groundbreaking study provides readers with insights into the political, social and religious culture of Ukrainian Kozakdom, as reflected in paintings, icons and woodcuts produced in Kyiv and on the territories of the Hetmanate, the Zaporozhian Sich and western Ukraine in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

By encouraging the iconography to "speak," "Tsars and Cossacks" helps broaden and deepen readers' understanding of Ukrainian iconography, as well as the nature of relations between tsars and Kozaks in the Russian Empire.

"Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography" is available from Harvard University Press, Customer Service Department, 79 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; e-mail, [email protected]; toll-free fax, 1-800-406-9145; toll-free telephone, 1-800-405-1619.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 10, 2002, No. 45, Vol. LXX

| Home Page |