Customer Reviews

God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795

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Since its publication in 1984, these two heavy tomes have been the only survey course of Polish history worth reading, in Polish or English or any other language. The others, since the beginnings of Polish history books, have generally been badly outdated, marred by heavy ideological or religous bias, or were written by enthusiasts rather than by trained historians. I have read as many as I could fine since I started studying the field in 1971. Davies is controversial because he does indeed take stands not always popular with some readers, and he is a reasonable romantic enthusiast. Note the other reviews. After all, he received his doctorate in Krakow, the former capital of Poland, a true measure of devotion to the country. Unfortunately, the world of Polish, much less Eastern European, historigoraphy has been overturned with the end of the Cold War and opening of the archives and libraries formerly denied. There is a crying need for an updated version of Polish history, especially to cover the post-1945 period, which was off-limits under the rules in the former People's Republic. Until then, read Davies. Understandably, the market for this sort of work is limited, but it is good to know that a Polish translation is used in the restored Poland. Certain periods are well-coverd, as in the Piotr Wandycz book on 19th century Poland. We distributed copies of this work through the cultural section of the American Embassy in Warsaw in the 1980's.

With God's Playground Davies has proven himself to be one of the greatest historians, historical writers, and historical theorists that the English language has known. Davies combines the narrative and thematic approaches to achieve a historical study that provides a chronology of events as well as an understanding of deeper changes and cultural contexts. Since you are reading this in the hopes that it will help you decide to buy the book, let me explain how Davies does this. First, he provides a chapter that is written in the traditional narrative style from n-date to x-date. Then he follows that up with several chapters on each facet of Polish life and how that developed from n-date to x-date. Typically, he uses political, military, economic, religious, and cultural (the arts, etc.) as his primary themes. By using this technique Davies is able to impart much more knowledge and much deeper understanding to his readers. Finally, these two volumes also contain some of the best and most useful maps I have encountered in any history book. The maps alone are worth the price of the book, and anyone teaching a European history course will find them to be invaluable in helping students understand Eastern Europe.

Excellent book. Few years back Norman Davies received an honorary diploma from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for his outstanding achievements. This book was recognized as a masterpiece, translated into Polish, and is currently used by undergraduate and graduate students in Poland.

I highly recommend it.

God's Playground is currently being used by many schools in Poland as the textbook of Polish history. It was writen in English, and was translated into Polish to be used in schools. It is very thorough, well balanced, and focuses on the Mickiewicz point of view. The book is a good reflection of how Poles see their history. Russophiles probably wouldn't enjoy this very Polish view of history, but it is well written, well researched, and interesting! This is the first book about Polish history, that was translated into Polish to be used in Polish schools.

Davies sympathized with Poland as a nation wrongly accused of not doing enough during WW II to help save its Jews from the Nazis. His opinions conflicted with Jewish academics', with whom he quarreled. Those differences in opinion are worth noting by any serious student of Polish history and should not, in any case, be used as an excuse to criticize everything Davies has written. An earlier reader/review characterizes the expression that peasants "live lustily" as a "fairly typical Slavophilic view." Obviously he\she is not Slavic, and the comment and its context is certainly negative. Makes me wonder what people's view the reader represents?

Few English-speaking peoples know much about the accomplishments of the Polish people. The very readable work by Davies, an Englishman, goes a long way to fill in the gap.

A fascinating expertly researched and written study of the growth of a culture and nation much ignored and unknown to Western readers. In many ways the
Godparent of the American Democracy, Poland failed to achieve what the U.S.A.
has for many reasons. A melting pot culture with the basic Political concept of a free society for many of it's citizens, Poland reached the high water mark in the mid 17th Century. Its decline and fall is told in great detail by Mr. Davies
and should probably be required reading all U.S. schools.

Dr. Davies, Gods Playground is a definitive history of the most overlooked & under appreciated nation in Europe. He traces the origins and development of Poland with academic integrity and excellent prose. A must read for anyone interested in European & Polish history.

Although God's Playground covers a large chunk of Poland's history, Davies relies heavily on sources which are not very historically reliable. In reference to the uprising of 1830, he quotes extensively from literary sources (e.g., Romantic poets), without much in the way of alternative documentation, such as archival research; in his extraordinarily brief discussion of the 1846 peasant jacquerie in Galicia, he lays full blame for this bloody expression of peasants' resentment towards the Polish gentry entirely upon the Austrian authorities, an interpretation of events that is dubious at best. Davies also has a strong tendency himself to romanticize his subject matter. For example, in his section on the lives of the peasants, he includes a long quote from a foreign traveller/observer who talks about how the peasants "live lustily", a fairly typical Slavophilic view of the peasants. However, he accepts this account on its face value without intervening commentary. For the student of Polish history, God's Playground is very disappointing

I did not read this book yet, but I heard it is excellent. If you send the book to me and i receive it, I will write a review. W. Szybalski