GENERAL COOK. BIOGRAPHY OF A GENERATION ...

Vasyl Kuk was the last commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). He was a man who lived through all the great tragedies and upheavals of the Ukrainian 20th century and lived to see the independence for which he had fought all his life. The struggle of Ukrainian underground fighters against Polish rule, the attempt to restore independence in 1941, the expansion of the OUN network in southern and eastern Ukraine, the confrontation with the Nazi regime, the UPA's biggest battle near Hurby in the spring of 1944, the insurgents' war against Soviet rule, the repression and provocations of the NKVD, the KGB's attempts to break rebellious prisoners, and finally the collapse of the Soviet empire all these are chapters in Kook's biography. But this book is not only a biography of an extraordinary figure, but also a large-scale study of the Ukrainian national movement: from its origins in the 19th century to the armed resistance against the Nazis and Soviets, and to the first years of independent Ukraine.