Reddit reviews Borderland: A Journey through the History of Ukraine

this book is quite informative: http://www.amazon.com/Borderland-Journey-through-History-Ukraine/dp/0813337925

Plus, of course, you should watch these three movies, which are archetypical for Ukrainian culture:

• "The Lost Charter", the mystic comedy about the heroic period of Ukrainian history; you can see there the image of Cossak's culture of Naddniprianschina (Dnieper area);
  https://youtu.be/rAuHb2LA17U
  
• "The Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors", lyric love tragedy in the Hutsul village, western Carpathian Ukraine;
  https://youtu.be/cREQ9j6fEXI;
  
• "For Two Hares", comedy about the old urban life in Kyiv:
  https://youtu.be/R2gKcPiEYyQ
  
  These three movies are necessary part of the "cultural code" of modern Ukrainians. And you don't really need to understand the language - that's rather for seeing the lifestyle and listening the songs.