With Their Backs to the Mountains

Paul Robert Magocsi is professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto, where since 1980 he also holds the John Yaremko Chair of Ukrainian Studies.

"Paul Robert Magocsi, a well-known author on Ukrainian History and a self-identified Rusyn, authored With Their Backs to the Mountains not only to fill a lacuna in knowledge among specialists and genealogical researchers, but also to advocate for the distinctiveness (and, indeed, existence) of an ethno-national group still struggling for recognition at home and abroad. The comprehensive book includes a wealth of illustrations, maps, and text capsules, which address thematic issues outside the immediate chronological narrative, and Magocsi’s text is certain to become the definitive reference guide to the Carpatho-Rusyns."

• List of MapsList of Tables IntroductionChapters1. Carpatho-Rusyns and the land of Carpathian Rus’Human geographyNo shortage of namesPhysical geographyA borderland of borders2. Carpathian Rus’ in prehistoric timesEarliest human settlementsThe Iron Age and the CeltsEarly peoples in Carpathian Rus’The Roman Empire and the Dacians3. The Slavs and their arrival in the CarpathiansThe Huns and the displacement of peoplesThe origin-of-peoples fetishIs DNA the reliable way?The Slavs and Carpathian Rus’Dwellings of the early SlavsThe White Croats and the Avars4. State formation in central EuropeThe Pax Romana and the Byzantine EmpireGreater MoraviaSaints Constantine/Cyril and MethodiusChristianity becomes “our” religionContentsWho among the East Slavs first received Christianity?The Magyars and HungaryHistorical memory and political realityThe rise of PolandKievan Rus’The Great Debate: the origin of Rus’5. Carpathian Rus’ until the early 16th centuryThe formation of the Hungarian KingdomA medieval Carpatho-Rusyn state: fact or fiction?The Mongol invasion and the restructuring of HungaryThe Vlach colonizationKings, nobles, and the implementation of serfdomPoland: administrative and socioeconomic structureThe fall of Constantinople and the decline of Orthodoxy6. The Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and Carpathian Rus’ The Ottoman Empire in central EuropeThe Protestant ReformationThe Catholic Counter -ReformationPoland and church unionTransylvania and church union in HungaryThe Union of UzhhorodUniates/Greek Catholics: A new church or a return to the old?7. The Habsburg restoration in Carpathian Rus’Rákóczi’s “War of Liberation”Habsburg Austria’s transformation of Carpathian Rus’The Bachka-Srem Vojvodinian RusynsPoland and Galicia’s Lemko Region8. Habsburg reforms and their impact on Carpatho-RusynsThe reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph IIUniate/Greek Catholics and the Enlightenment in Carpathian Rus’Carpatho-Rusyns become an historical people9. The Revolution of 1848 and the Carpatho-Rusyn national awakeningThe multicultural Austrian EmpireKakania’s emperors and kingsWhat is nationalism and what are national movements?Nationalism in HungaryFrom inferiority to superiority: the transformation of a dangerous complexRevolution in the Austrian lands and HungaryThe Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: politicsThe first Carpatho-Rusyn political programThe Carpatho-Rusyn national awakening: cultureDid Carpatho-Rusyns really love the Russians?10. Carpathian Rus’ in Austria-Hungary, 1868–1914The Dual Monarchy and Austrian parliamentarismIn search of a Rus’ national identityThe national awakening in the Lemko RegionHungary and its magyarization policiesMagyarization despite the letter of the lawCarpatho-Rusyns in Hungarian politicsCarpatho-Rusyns and national survivalSocioeconomic developmentsWas life in pre-World War I Carpathian Rus’ so destitute?11. Carpatho-Rusyn diasporas before World War IMigration to the Srem, Banat, and BachkaEmigration abroad to the United StatesRusyn-American religious and secular organizationsRejected Greek Catholics and the “return” to Orthodoxy“You are not a proper priest”“Ruthenians” become Uhro (Hungarian)-Rusyns, or Russians, or UkrainiansRusyn Americans and international politics12. Carpathian Rus’ during World War I, 1914–1918The end of ....