Product Description

Poland is a country which sporadically hits the headlines of the Anglo-Saxon world. It has suffered the dubious distinction of being wiped off the political map in 1795 to be resurrected after the First World War only to suffer apparent annihilation during the Second, with reduction to satellite status of the Soviet Union only to emerge in the van of resistance to Soviet domination during the 1980s. Yet the history of Poland remains comparatively little known. This book offers a brief, non-specialist introduction to Polish history, from medieval times to the present day, and is the only short history of Poland available in English. It concentrates essentially on political development which, particularly for the pre-nineteenth-century period, still remains little known to English readers. The book also includes much material on relations with Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania, and other neighbouring states.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214925 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 335 pages

Review
‘… the result is the best short guide to Polish history currently available in English.’ English Historical Review

' … the best short guide to Polish history currently available in English.' Robert I. Frost, King's College London, Oxford Academic Journals

‘… two chapters, on the partitions era to 1918, are excellent … a judicious balance of pertinent information and lucid, thoughtful analysis.’ History

Customer Reviews

Definative
This is beyond a doubt the best history of Poland I have read so far (and I run a website on Polish History). It is concise yet detailed enough for any reader or for the curious. There are fascinating facts that one does not come across in any of the other histories which add to the general background and it is written in a eminently readable fashion. Lukowski is a very familiar name amongst students of Polish History - his account of the Partitions is a classic and the partnership with Zawadzki makes me want to read that historian's work also. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you want a History of Poland then this is the definative version.

Good introduction to Polish history
As the authors acknowledge, there is nothing yet in English to replace Norman Davies's two-volume "God's Playground" for a really detailed history of Poland. Still, this Concise History takes the reader smoothly through more than 1,000 years of the Polish past, and it is especially good on the 18th and 19th centuries. It is also remarkably fair in its assessment of the Communist period. While accepting that Polish Communism was not as ferocious as some of the varieties elsewhere in eastern Europe, many readers might want to see a bigger tribute paid to the democratic opposition activists who, after all, played such a crucial part in ensuring that the transition to a free society was peaceful.