Despite centuries of foreign rule, the people of Ukraine preserved their rich Slavic heritage. Fleeing poverty and persecution, Ukrainians brought this heritage with them to build new communities in the United States. This book is a look into how, with each new generation, the Ukrainian Americans continue to add to American life through their traditions of faith, their arts and architecture, and many other contributions.

Journey with Oksana as she shares her Ukrainian American experience. Thirty-eight pages of detailed color illustrations transport you through a vibrant world filled with the customs, dance, food, craft, music and holiday traditions passed down from generations of Ukrainians.

Originally known as Ruthenians, Ukrainians began to immigrate to western Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. Attracted by the region's growing importance as an industrial center, they settled in cities and towns close to their work. Like other immigrants, they faced many economic and social hardships, but they were proud to call themselves Americans as they firmly preserved and celebrated their ethnic heritage. Their dispersion among the hills and valleys of western Pennsylvania prevented the development of a highly centralized community, but it also preserved many of the unique aspects of a diverse people. Ukrainians of Western Pennsylvania chronicles where these hardworking people settled, the ways they organized community and personal life, the venues through which they presented their heritage, their contributions to the general community, and how their community has grown with the times.

Ukrainians, originally known as Ruthenians, began arriving in the Philadelphia area at the end of the 1800s. Like all immigrants, they were not spared considerable hardships in their pursuit of the American dream. Finding stable employment was an ongoing endeavor. After work they gathered around their churches, indisputably the centerpiece of their immigrant communities. Here they procured much-needed support from their fellow countrymen. Theirs was a common purpose: to preserve in this new world their cherished customs and traditions. Thus their societies abounded with schools, choirs, bands, dance groups, reading rooms, and church and fraternal organizations. With time, more Ukrainians appeared, with the largest group arriving after World War II to escape the horrors of war-torn Europe and start anew. Ukrainians of Greater Philadelphia documents how each new generation of immigrants added to the kaleidoscope that became the Ukrainian community in and around the City of Brotherly Love.

The contributors to this collection explore the multidimensional transformation of independent Ukraine and deal with her politics, society, private sector, identity, arts, religions, media, and democracy. Each chapter reflects the up-to-date research in its sub-discipline, is styled for use in seminars, and includes a bibliography as well as a recommended reading list. These studies illustrate the deep changes, yet, at the same time, staggering continuity in Ukraine’s post-Soviet development as well as various counter-reactions to it. All nine chapters are jointly written by two co-authors, one Ukrainian and one Western, who respond here to recent needs in international higher education. The volume’s contributors include, apart from the editors: Margarita M. Balmaceda (Seton Hall University), Oksana Barshynova (Ukrainian National Arts Museum), Tymofii Brik (Kyiv School of Economics), José Casanova (Georgetown University), Diana Dutsyk (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), Marta Dyczok (University of Western Ontario), Hennadii Korzhov (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute), Serhiy Kudelia (Baylor University), Pavlo Kutuev (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute), Olena Martynyuk (Columbia University), Oksana Mikheieva (Ukrainian Catholic University), Tymofii Mylovanov (University of Pittsburgh), Andrian Prokip (Ukrainian Institute for the Future), Oxana Shevel (Tufts University), Ilona Sologoub (Kyiv School of Economics), Maksym Yenin (Kyiv Polytechnic Institute), and Yuliya Yurchenko (University of Greenwich).