In January I was happy to defend my PhD degree. It was a great day, one of the best days I've had. True!
Although my last post here was a couple of years ago, today I just wanted to say that the process of dissertation writing was finished.
Here are several of the photos from the defense (so that you know that it is really finished).
Here is the book! (also available online)
Me speaking on the defense
Here is the pre-defense Swedish ritual, called "spikning" (nailing a cover page of the dissertation to the wall in the library and presenting your thesis to broader public (mainly the colleagues)
I must say that the dissertation was well received in Sweden. Professor Peter Aronsson reviewed it very nicely in Svenska Dagbladet (one of the leading Swedish newspapers). Professor Per-Arne Bodin also reviewed it very positively in Respons magazine (which is available now only in print, online version will appear in several months). Couple of people also told me that they were in the process of writing review to my book, we'll see..
I am also glad that people in Ukraine also have a chance to read it. A part of the book was published at historians.in.ua so that the readers in Ukraine are at least informed that the book was published.
Finally, a lot of changes happened since I last wrote here. In 2013/14 Euromaidan happened in Ukraine, the country has been involved in the war with Russia for more than a year now, Russia annexed the Crimea, and I still cannot believe it. Last time I was in Ukraine couple of months ago, in February, and I could not help thinking that this world is so surreal. Kyiv is totally different although people are trying their best to keep all things "normal". I felt great solidarity and warmth among people, as if all understood "we're all in the same boat".... and normality continues.
Well, maybe I will create some new blogg about my ongoing projects, but this one is finished just like my dissertation project.
