![]() ![]() The languages we would now consider “Lithuanian,” “Belarusan,” and “Ukrainian” were basically languages of the peasants and the lower classes that were disenfranchised and denied what today is considered the basic rights of citizenship. He goes back to the Lublin Union of 1569 that incorporated parts of present-day Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus into the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and shows how the elite gentry classes of Poland and Lithuania were generally considered to be assimilated into the Polish language and high culture. Snyder shows that in the early modern era, when the names and boundaries of these countries first came into public consciousness, these divisions were far from clear or natural. Snyder puts to doubt the commonsense assumption that modern nation-states and clear-cut ethnic groups exist “naturally.” Most people would assume that Poles live in Poland, Lithuanians live in Lithuania, and so on. ![]() This volume tracks the development of national identity in the four modern states now known as Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belarus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 Abby Drweckiīy Timothy Snyder. The Reconstruction of Nations: SR, January 2008 This Issue ![]()
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