The book is based on the materials of the second round of the expedition across Ukraine in 2019-2021. Published during the full-scale war, it is a record of the country’s life before 24 February 2022. Unlike the first book, it also distinguishes Kyiv and Donechchyna among the historical and ethnographic regions.
Wickerwork craft, hemp cultivation, bortnytstvo (wild-honey farming), pottery, Petrykivka painting, along with Slastion schools, nature parks, initiatives, and family businesses are all on the pages of “Ukraїner. Ukrainian Insider 2”.
“This is both an archive of our past few years and an opportunity to glimpse into a free, democratic, and peaceful future. We are living in a historic moment because this book is being printed in Kharkiv, which is under daily shelling. I cannot be certain that this foreword will not burn in the fire of Russian missiles and bombs along with the entire edition, but I know for sure that no matter how many of them fall on our land, we will keep sharing stories about Ukraine. Our heroes will continue to create what makes up our incredible country today, and all of us, Ukrainians, will repeatedly re-evaluate the society we live in, realising how we underestimated it in the past,” writes Bogdan Logvynenko, founder of Ukraїner, in the foreword.
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“Anatolii Skumin lives in the village of Khochyne, near the border with Belarus, and cannot imagine his daily life without bortnytstvo, a love for which his grandfather instilled in him.
— The house where I used to live had a thick pear tree with a beehive on it. I remember how my grandfather would climb this tree, this hive, and pick out honey. And he would give me a tiny handful, let me taste this delicious honey. I would eat it. It was then that I realised that I should learn to do this myself.”
The book is available in Ukrainian only. It can also be purchased as a set with the first part, “Ukraїner. Ukrainian Insider”, which became the best-selling book at the IX International Book Arsenal Festival.
