Historian as a public intellectual: media discourse about Timothy Snyder’s works on Ukrainian topics

Abstract

In the article, the author analyses the media discourse around the works of Timothy Snyder, one of the leading experts on the history of Eastern Europe. The relevance of the topic is that T. Snyder’s materials and interviews on Russian-Ukrainian relations are often used and analyzed by both Ukrainian and foreign media. The current Russian-Ukrainian war has escalated, and the changes in the views of the scholars’ critics are worth mentioning.

The subject of the study is a criticism of Timothy Snyder’s views on Ukrainian issues. The aim is to outline the discourse around the author’s works and identify his criticism’s main tendencies. The following methods were used in the process of scientific research: comparative, historical, systems analysis, content analysis, and others. The novelty was a comparative analysis of criticism of the works of Timothy Snyder before and after the Russian invasion.

As a result of the study, the criticism of Timothy Snyder’s monograph “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin”, his texts on the past of Ukrainian society and the historical context of Russian-Ukrainian relations, as well as criticism of world politics and his predictions of declining democracy were reviewed. Timothy Snyder is mentioned as both the best interpreter of the twentieth century and an alarmist who unjustifiably emphasizes the disappearance of freedom and ignoring of history.

The main tendencies in the criticism of the researcher were singled out: overly emotionally colored speech, dubious methodology, and obsession with statistics in the monograph. Critics of the works on the Russian-Ukrainian war had accused the author of distorting facts. The comparison of Vladimir Putin to both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin was believed to be unjustified, and allegations of Putin’s regime as fascist were considered inappropriate. At the same time, a large number of public intellectuals note his contribution to the discovery of significant problems in the history of Eastern Europe — less studied compared to other regions. Today, the scholar continues to draw the world’s attention to Ukraine’s past, and its ties with Europe and stands guard over freedom and democracy. Given this, there is a need for further study of both Snyder’s works and criticism of his views.