Marvin Kalb, a former journalist and Harvard professor, traces how the Crimea of Catherine the Great became a global tinder box. The world was stunned when Vladimir Putin invaded and seized Crimea in March 2014. In the weeks that followed, pro-Russian rebels staged uprisings in southeastern Ukraine. The United States and its Western allies immediately imposed strict sanctions on Russia and whenever possible tried to isolate it diplomatically. This sharp deterioration in East-West relations has raised basic questions about Putin's provocative policies and the future of Russia and Ukraine.

Crimea : from Catherine the Great to Vladimir the gambler --The end, or the beginning, of history -- Putin's March 18 history lesson -- Kievan Rus' : the "first Russia" -- The Mongol legacy : the fall of Kiev and the rise of Moscow -- The star Tsars : Peter and Catherine -- A Ukrainian Volk emerges, on paper -- In revolution, the birth of modern Ukraine -- Lenin and the "National Minorities" Conundrum -- World War II: a Ukrainian horror -- Between 1945 and 1991 -- Yeltsin versus Gorbachev -- "Ukraine has arrived!" -- A very certain future -- The war in Ukraine -- The tragedy of a Malaysian airliner -- "Masters of the taiga!" -- Whither Ukraine? Whither Russia? -- A look back to look ahead.