Author: Stasiuk, Platon
Title: Na Chystu Vodu. Druga Diia Istorii Nepryiniatoi Zemli Z Shevchenkovoi Mogyly (on Clean Water. A Second Story of the Rejected Soil from Shevchenko's Grave)
Description: Niu Iork (New York), By the Author, 1965. First Edition. First edition; 7 3/4 x 5 1/4; pp. [2], 3-95; light-brown wraps, printed in black; a small bump to tail of spine; minor creasing to corners; illustrated with frontis, photographs, and facsimile documents; very good to near fine condition. Around 1958, Ukrainian emigres in the US came up with the idea of building a memorial to "Ukraine's Favorite Son," author Taras Shevchenko, as a way of making a statement about their community and of the situation in their homeland. The campaign gained momentum and in 1960, Congress passed a bill, which allocated land in Washington DC for the Ukrainians to build a statue. Platon Stasiuk, a prominent Ukrainian-American businessman and treasurer of the Shevchenko Memorial Committee, went to Ukraine in 1961, intent on taking back a container of soil from Shevchenko's grave to be placed under the monument in Washington. Expecting an appreciative committee, he was instead met with rejection, as his bringing the soil was viewed as a Soviet ploy. Disappointed Stasiuk published a book, describing his experience, and the Soviet media denounced the dismissal as hostility towards a friendly gesture. Stasiuk returned the soil to Ukraine and wrote a second account, the current one, in which he included numerous letters of support he had received for his initiative. Very good .

Keywords: Ukraine, Shevchenko


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