When I arrived in Kiev for the first time in May 2010 I immediately fell in love with this beautiful and sparkling city. In the period 2012-2016 I lived among the inhabitants and studied the history of their city and country more in detail. In this book a compact overview is presented of the history of Kiev and Ukraine from the Stoneage till present times. After the Maidan revolt in Februari 2014 the country felt in social-economic and political decay and per year about 1 million, mostly highly educated, young people, left their country for good and went to Russia, the US, Europe and Canada. This book is about the rise and fall of this beautiful city and country. Ukraine and Kiev are now in a process of reflection how to develop further in harmony with its closest neighbours.