God's Playground: A History of Poland, Volume II: 1795 to the Present / Edition 2

by Norman Davies

Overview

The most comprehensive survey of Polish history available in English, God's Playground demonstrates Poland's importance in European history from medieval times to the present. Abandoning the traditional nationalist approach to Polish history, Norman Davies instead stresses the country's rich multinational heritage and places the development of the Jewish German, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian communities firmly within the Polish context.

Davies emphasizes the cultural history of Poland through a presentation of extensive poetical, literary, and documentary texts in English translation. In each volume, chronological chapters of political narrative are interspersed with essays on religious, social, economic, constitutional, philosophical, and diplomatic themes.

This new edition has been revised and fully updated with two new chapters to bring the story to the end of the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231128193
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	04/06/2005
Series:	God's Playground: A History of Poland , #2
Edition description:	revised edition
Pages:	752
Sales rank:	176,839
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Norman Davies is chair of the history department, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, at the University of London.

Table of Contents

Maps and Diagrams
Illustrations
Notes on the Illustrations
Abbreviations
ChronologyI. Poland Destroyed and Reconstructed, 1795-19451. Narod: The Growth of the Modern Polish Nation (1772-1945)
2. Rossiya: The Russian Partition (1772-1918)
3. Preussen: The Prussian Partition (1772-1918)
4. Galicia: The Austrian Partition (1773-1918)
5. Fabryka: The Process of Industrialization
6. Lud: The Rise of the Common People
7. Kosciol: The Roman Catholic Church in Poland
8. Kultura: Education and the Cultural Heritage
9. Zydzi: The Jewish Community
10. Wojsko: The Military Tradition
11. Emigracja: The Polish Emigration
12. Varsovie: The Duchy of Warsaw (1807-1815)
13. Kongresowka: The Congress Kingdom (1815-1864)
14. Cracovia: The Republic of Cracow (1815-1846)
15. Wiosna: The Springtime of Other Nations (1848)
16. Reveries: The Thaw and the January Rising (1855-1864)
17. Rewolucja: Revolution and Reaction (1904-1914)
18. Feniks: The Rebirth of the Polish State (1914-1918)
19. Niepodleglosc: Twenty Years of Independence (1918-1939)
20. Golgota: Poland in the Second World War (1939-1945)
21. Granice: The Modern Polish Frontiers (1919-1945)II. Contemporary Poland since 194422. Partia: The communist Movement
23. Polska Ludowa: The Polish 'People's Republic' (since 1944)
24. Solidarnosc: The Solidarity Decade
25. Wolnosc: Freedom Regained, 1990-2000Postscript
Notes on the Text
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

Superbly readable, rich in detail yet never boring or trivial . . . This is beyond doubt not only the best book on Poland in the English language, it is the best book on Poland.

New York Times Book Review

This two-volume book is a truly magnificent work, and there is no doubt that it is the best introduction available to the incredible imbroglio of Polish history. I am not thinking only of its scholarly merit and its depth of insight. Nor only of the fact that the book reads extremely well, thanks to the author's vivid style, his wide spectrum of sources... and his good sense of humor.... What is even more worthy of recognition is that Professor Davies had managed to maintain an equilibrium between understanding and objectivity, sympathy and criticism.

Stanislaw Baranczak