Countless surprises. One land at the heart of it all.

This book reveals the lives of extraordinary individuals who were either born in, lived in, or were shaped by the land we now call Ukraine.

Did you know the man who deciphered the Mayan script studied in Kharkiv? That the discoverer of the first antibiotic walked the streets of Odesa? Or that a composer from Kremenchuk holds four Oscars for Best Original Score?

You’ll meet a gymnast who held the world record for most Olympic medals for 48 years. The four sisters who each became queens of European monarchies. And over a hundred more who quietly changed the world-scientists, artists, visionaries-often uncredited for their Ukrainian roots or cultural foundation.

These 146 stories span centuries and continents. But all of them are linked by the same idea: it’s all Ukraine to us.