Red century: Kyiv, ArtEk, 2005, 888 p.

Myroslav Popovych's book is an attempt to create a «philosophy of history» — analogous to the philosophy of science or art. Its subject matter is the history of European civilization in the 20th century, primarily in the context of communist totalitarianism. The author focuses not on events as such, but on their historical meaning, which is inseparable from the moral issues of good and evil. Popovych emphasizes that the key secrets of the past century lie not so much in facts or political strategies as in an adequate understanding of historical phenomena. Against this backdrop, he analyzes the controversial issues of Ukrainian history — from the Central Rada, the Hetmanate, and the Directory to the “Executed Renaissance,” the Holodomor, the Great Terror, World War II, and the activities of the UPA, as well as the fate of culture in the Ukrainian SSR, the diaspora, and the period of perestroika. All these issues are interpreted in a broad civilizational context.

CONTENTS

Instead of an introduction

Chapter 1. The first crisis of Western civilization – the World War

The German problem

The Balkans – a civilizational rift

The war before the war

The reality of war

The end of the war

The first crisis of the XX century: summary

Chapter 2. The second crisis of Western Civilization – Communism and Fascism

«Dictatorship of the Proletariat» in Russia

The Failure of the New Strategy of the «World Revolution»

Thermidor

War

The second crisis of the XX century: summary

Chapter 3. The third crisis of Western civilization – the Cold War

Soviet totalitarianism – the main enemy of democracy

The decomposition of Soviet totalitarianism

The march of the «world village»

«Perestroika»

Instead of an epilogue

Name index