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The Land of Tears and Hope
- Author
- Illia Ponomarenko
- Narrator
- Greg Kolpakchi
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 10 November 2026
- Run Time
- 12 hours
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
An epic, popular history of Ukraine, from an acclaimed, front-line war reporter, directly countering Putin’s attempted erasure of Ukrainian identity.
“Likely the best-known Ukrainian after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy” (Der Spiegel), Illia Ponomarenko, author of I Will Show You How It Was, returns with a magisterial history of his homeland, dating back over 1,000 years and bringing us right up into the fraught present of Russia’s invasion. Colorful and dramatic, The Land of Tears and Hope weaves the stories of animistic Slavic tribes, the arrival of the Vikings, Cossack revolutions, Soviet repression, and the Euromaidan uprising into the urgent manifesto of a nation under attack.
Ukraine lies at a major European crossroads and has seen endless cycles of conquest and liberation, subjugation and self-determination, all of which have played out on an epic scale. Ponomarenko brings us history as it lives in the popular imagination, with myth, folklore, and poetry, alongside stories of conquest, resistance, and survival. From Yaroslav the Wise, the greatest figure in Ukrainian history, to Taras Shevchenko, the peasant painter whose poems live on to this day, to Serhiy Korolyov, the Ukrainian engineer at the heart of the Soviet space program, and beyond, readers will come away with a new understanding of who Ukrainians are and why they are fighting so hard.
Critics Review
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This exceptional chronicle of the struggles and persistent hope in Ukraine is a moving and eloquent testament to Ponomarenko’s patriotism and to his country's extraordinary strength and resolve.
Booklist (Starred Review)
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The Kremlin's greatest lie is to claim Ukraine is not a real country, Ukrainians not a real people. For centuries that lie has spread across the world, enabling genocide and war. Here, one of the world's most important reporters corrects the record and reveals the story of his nation and his people.
Peter Pomerantsev, author of NOTHING IS TRUE AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE
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An accessible history of Ukraine, from its founding myth to the present, abundant with vivid detail and told through the prism of today’s existential war of independence. A must-read if you want to understand why Ukrainians keep fighting.
Yaroslav Trofimov, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of OUR ENEMIES WILL VANISH
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You might not expect a war correspondent to write a history of his country. Yet this is the one to read if you want to understand Ukraine and why it refuses to disappear. Sweeping, lucid, and fiercely alive.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Illia Ponomarenko
- Narrator
- Greg Kolpakchi
- Duration
- 12 hours
- Release Date
- 10 November 2026
- ISBN
- 9781639738809
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- National liberation and independence, European history
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents The Land of Tears and Hope: The Ukrainian Story by Illia Ponomarenko, read by Greg Kolpakchi.An epic, popular history of Ukraine, from an acclaimed, front-line war reporter, directly countering Putin’s attempted erasure of Ukrainian identity.“Likely the best-known Ukrainian after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy” (Der Spiegel), Illia Ponomarenko, author of I Will Show You How It Was, returns with a magisterial history of his homeland, dating back over 1,000 years and bringing us right up into the fraught present of Russia’s invasion. Colorful and dramatic, The Land of Tears and Hope weaves the stories of animistic Slavic tribes, the arrival of the Vikings, Cossack revolutions, Soviet repression, and the Euromaidan uprising into the urgent manifesto of a nation under attack. Ukraine lies at a major European crossroads and has seen endless cycles of conquest and liberation, subjugation and self-determination, all of which have played out on an epic scale. Ponomarenko brings us history as it lives in the popular imagination, with myth, folklore, and poetry, alongside stories of conquest, resistance, and survival. From Yaroslav the Wise, the greatest figure in Ukrainian history, to Taras Shevchenko, the peasant painter whose poems live on to this day, to Serhiy Korolyov, the Ukrainian engineer at the heart of the Soviet space program, and beyond, readers will come away with a new understanding of who Ukrainians are and why they are fighting so hard.
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