Towards the Abyss

Reviews / Votes

A nuanced, melancholy, sophisticated and gratifyingly intimate glimpse into war-torn Ukraine -- Yanis Varoufakis, author of <i>Technofeudalism</i> The huge choruses of these times will probably go down in history as mere noise. Might the lone voice of Ishchenko then sound prophetic? -- Georgi Derluguian, author of <i>Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus</i> A brilliant cri de cour from a Soviet Ukrainian searching the historical horizon for a political model beyond neoliberalism and regressive nationalism -- Dylan Riley, author of <i>Microverses</i> [A] pugnacious debut ... those wanting a better understanding of the Russia-Ukraine conflict would do well to check out this left-wing analysis. * Publishers Weekly * A singular contribution to the rejuvenation of critical Eastern European scholarship ... the questions that Ishchenko raise[s] are itineraries for theoretical reflections and a hope ... for a modern and universalist politics worthy of its name -- Bogdan Ovcharuk * LeftEast * The collection is valuable for its retrospective analysis, with Ishchenko's clear-eyed insights coming at a time when few dare to examine the still-fresh wound that is recent Ukrainian history, or to think about anything but the next few months of fighting. -- Signe Swanson * Cleveland Review of Books * A rare, but necessary, corrective to the currently dominant explanation of the roots of these events in the West. -- Vladimir Unkovski-Korica * Counterfire * A nuanced analysis, based on [Ischchenko's] understanding of the social, linguistic, political and economic divisions within Ukrainian society. -- Duncan Bowie * Chartist * An important corrective to analyses of Ukraine predominantly centered on ethnicity and personality ... Ishchenko's moral and passionate stance gives clues about how non-Ukrainian leftists should approach the Russian involvement in Ukraine -- Cihan Tugal * Jacobin * Ishchenko's work as a whole is convincing in its thorough examination of the post-Soviet space with a focus on Ukraine and Russia. He also delivers a passionate commitment to universalism, which, notwithstanding differences, recognizes general conditions for a good and self-determined life for all people, which can only be realized through revolutionary change. -- Arman Speth * Spectre Journal * A cogent argument offering an urgent alternative to the dominant accounts of the warmakers in West and East and their celebration of civilizational identity politics that all but decapacitates our brains. -- Focaal