The ten chapters presented in this volume by Arel (political science, U. of Ottawa, Canada) and Ruble (director, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center) approach the politics of cultural (ethnic, linguistic, religious, etc) identity in post-Soviet Russian and Ukraine from different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Papers review theories of nationalist mobilizations in the 1990s, discuss the role of language cleavages in the Ukrainian elections, analyze the role of elites in attempting to reframe the role of Islam in Russian culture, describe anti-Chinese immigration sentiments in Siberia, explore shifts in map-making as reflective of legitimacy questions of Great Power politics versus the nationality principle, examine shifting constructions of the category of "refugee" in Ukraine and Russia, and discuss religious revival in the Ukraine as consequences of shifting political and economic realities. Co-Published with the Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)