A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge Concise Histories) [Hardcover]

Jerzy Lukowski (Author), Hubert Zawadzki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2006 | ISBN-10: 052185332X | ISBN-13: 978-0521853323 | Edition: 2

The second edition of this guide to Poland has been updated to take account of the years from 1989-2005. This period marked its liberation from the Soviet Union, the birth of Poland's 'Third Republic' and, recently, its accession to the European Union in 2004. Poland's history has been marked by its resilience. Once a dominant force in central and eastern Europe and home to a remarkable experiment in consensual politics, it was excised from the map by its neighbours in 1795. Resurrected in 1918, partitioned afresh during the Second World War, it survived to become a satellite of the Soviet Union. Yet in the 1980s, it was Poland which blazed the trail in casting off communism, and was finally able to reassert its Christian heritage. With its updated bibliography and new chronology, the book is the ideal companion for all looking for a comprehensive survey of this fascinating country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By any measure...Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki's Concise History of Poland is the best one-volume history of Poland available. In just under three hundred pages, the authors portray a Poland whose history is constantly being negotiated."
-Padraic Kenney, University of Colorado, The Journal of Modern History

Book Description

This second edition has been revised throughout and updated to include most recent developments from 1989-2005, notably Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004. The authors have also expanded and updated the bibliography, included new illustrative material, and added a chronology.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (July 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052185332X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521853323
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,620,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definative, May 13, 2007

By 

Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk (Oldham) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Hardcover)

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.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great overview of Polish history, March 20, 2003

By 

Monica Wanat "ua1vm" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Paperback)

If you have no knowledge of Polish history, this book is a good place the start. The authors recommend Playground of the Gods if you are looking for a more detailed history of Poland, but I haven't read those yet so I can't "offically" recommend them.

This book covers basic events and ideas that occured in Poland for the past 1000 years. In addition to politics and military events, the authors attempt to list cultural figures, such as Chopin, and how those figures reflected or affected Polish events.

There were few details on events most people normally think about when they think of Poland, such as concentration camps and WWII. However, these issues aren't ignored entirely, just given the same coverage as other events in Polish history.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Overview of Polish History, August 13, 2008

By 

Jan Peczkis "Scholar and Thinker" (Chicago IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Hardcover)

This book gives balanced detail to the different epochs of Polish history beginning with prehistory and ending with the fall of Communism.

Many interesting facts are presented in this book. For instance, the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Krakow was completed in 1397. (p. 52). In the 19th century, Russian revolutionaries Herzen and Bakunin supported the resurrection of the Polish state. (p. 163). In 1909, the Boryslaw-Drohobycz oil fields accounted for 5% of the world's oil production. (p. 162). Finally, Kiev had a large and thriving Polish intelligentsia as recently as 1917. (p. 164).

Some writers have claimed that Marie Curie-Sklodowska, following her move to France, increasingly distanced herself from her Polish heritage. In apparent refutation of this, the authors point out that Curie always maintained close contact with Poland, and was instrumental in establishing the Radium Institute in Warsaw in 1932. (p. 163). This was shortly before her death.

During the interwar period, popular illiteracy was reduced from 33% to 15%, and mortality rates were cut in half. A modest beginning was made in mechanization. In 1939, Poland had 2,000 tractors compared with France's 30,000. (pp. 221-222). (Of course, much agriculture all over Europe at the time was still non-mechanized).

A unique aspect of this book is its detailed list, in the back, of all of Poland's rulers, beginning with the dynasties. The list includes foreign rulers of Prussian-occupied, Austrian-occupied, and Russian-occupied Poland, as well the Communist rulers of Poland in the 20th century. There is even a listing of leaders of the Polish Government in Exile in London, which existed in the years 1939-1990.