Promoting History and Historians (28.06.2026)
A conversation between Vitaliy Dribnytsia and Borys, a history student, about historical education, reading sources, and the larger-than-life figures of the past — from Herodotus and Umberto Eco to Ivan Mazepa and Hryhor Orlyk. A source for the articles on Mazepa’s “treason” and on whether the OUN was a fascist movement.
Key moments
- 00:44 "Which history book have you read?" — a conversation about historical education and reading
- 02:38 Herodotus as a primary source: why he must be read critically
- 13:56 Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose, semiotics, and his guide to writing term papers
- 14:53 Eco and the "points of fascism"; his childhood essay praising Mussolini
- 22:16 Mazepa as a "terrible enemy" in the Russian narrative
- 22:34 Mazepa as an educated Baroque intellectual, not merely a military commander
- 23:02 Hryhor Orlyk, son of Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, a general in the French army