Ukraine is a country caught in a political tug of war: looking East to Russia and West to the European Union, this pivotal nation has long been a pawn in a global ideological game. And since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 in response to the Ukrainian Euromaidan protests against oligarchical corruption, the game has become one of life and death. In Ukraine: A Nation on the Borderland, acclaimed journalist and historian Karl Schlögel travels the length and breadth of the country, taking stock of the ongoing changes in its once flourishing cities. Lvov, Odessa, Kiev, Donetsk—all historical centers of culture in their own right—are now in a state of flux, riven by revolution and counter-revolution. Schlögel’s edge-of-Europe urban portraits present a vivid picture of twenty-first-century politics in play and daily life in contemporary Ukraine, acting as a sobering reminder of what is at stake on Europe’s doorstep.