Poland: The First Thousand Years

by Patrice M. Dabrowski Narrated by Elizabeth Wiley

Overview

Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.



Poland is a sweeping account designed to amplify major figures, moments, milestones, and turning points in Polish history. These include important battles and illustrious individuals, alliances forged by marriages and choices of religious denomination, and meditations on the likes of the Polish battle slogan "for our freedom and yours" that resounded during the Polish fight for independence.



The experience of oppression helped Poles to endure and surmount various challenges in the twentieth century, and Poland's demonstration of strength was a model for other peoples seeking to extract themselves from foreign yoke. Patrice Dabrowski's work situates Poland and the Poles within a broader European framework that locates this multiethnic and multidenominational region squarely between East and West.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

10/13/2014
In this sprawling and ambitious work, University of Vienna historian Dabrowski (Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland) proceeds systematically from Poland's foundational myths, with their roots at the end of the first millennium, to the fall of Communism and the establishment of democracy in 1989. For much of this time, Dabrowski's subject lacked a place on the map, but she makes a persuasive case that the enduring idea of Poland foreshadows the modern integration of Europe. In the Middle Ages, Poles and Lithuanians formed a polity where "creative consensus building would become the framework of a union that would remain the standard for centuries to come," and while sectarian battles raged throughout the continent, the religious tolerance of "Poland-Lithuania set the country apart." Dabrowski avoids academic prose, and even those with no background will find the text engrossing. Precise yet lyrical, she convincingly connects the lessons of Polish history to issues of universal import. In 1791, the Great Seym drafted Europe's first constitution, and as Dabrowski relates, the delegates' central question still echoes today in many turbulent regions of the world: "Could not the human gift of reason, so valued by Enlightenment thinkers, be utilized to find a happy synthesis between... new ideas and valuable aspects of the past?" Maps and illus. (Oct.)

Midwest Book Review

A work of truly impressive and painstaking scholarship, Poland is enhanced with the inclusion of a list of illustrations, an informative preface, a Note on Names, a pronunciation guide, an eight page list of suggestions for further reading, and a thirty-nine page index. Very highly recommended.

The Polish Review

A comprehensive, balanced, clearly written, and engaging new history of Poland... May Poland find many readers. They will not be disappointed in what they see.

Acta Poloniae Historica

Poland deserves being considered as one of the most valuable synthetic depictions of the history of Poland ever penned by an Anglo-Saxon author.

Journal of Modern History

The book provides even chronological coverage of a full 1,000 years of history and is exhaustive in scope, with the numerous subheadings lending it an almost encyclopedic quality. Dabrowski writes in an accessible, and in some places conversational, style, doing away with distracting jargon and replacing it with rhetorical questions, entertaining anecdotes, and well-chosen maps and images.

Cosmopolitan Review

A major achievement, lucidly and engagingly written.

Canadian Slavonic Papers

This is a clearly presented and compellingly written survey of the history of Poland from its founding in the tenth century through to the present day.

H-Net Reviews

Elegant writing with frequent vivid metaphorical language and skillful rearticulation of idiomatic and historic Polish proverbs into English make Dabrowski's prose captivating and easy to read.... [A] well-written, informative volume.

From the Publisher

Poland deserves being considered as one of the most valuable synthetic depictions of the history of Poland ever penned by an Anglo-Saxon author.

-- "Acta Poloniae Historica"

A comprehensive, balanced, clearly written, and engaging new history of Poland... May Poland find many readers. They will not be disappointed in what they see.

-- "The Polish Review"

A major achievement, lucidly and engagingly written.

-- "Cosmopolitan Review"

A work of truly impressive and painstaking scholarship, Poland is enhanced with the inclusion of a list of illustrations, an informative preface, a Note on Names, a pronunciation guide, an eight page list of suggestions for further reading, and a thirty-nine page index. Very highly recommended.

-- "Midwest Book Review"

Elegant writing with frequent vivid metaphorical language and skillful rearticulation of idiomatic and historic Polish proverbs into English make Dabrowski's prose captivating and easy to read.... [A] well-written, informative volume.

-- "H-Net Reviews"

In this sprawling and ambitious work, Dabrowski proceeds systematically from Poland's foundational myths, with their roots at the end of the first millennium, to the fall of Communism and the establishment of democracy in 1989. Dabrowski avoids academic prose, and even those with no background will find the text engrossing. Precise yet lyrical, she convincingly connects the lessons of Polish history to issues of universal import.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

The book provides even chronological coverage of a full 1,000 years of history and is exhaustive in scope, with the numerous subheadings lending it an almost encyclopedic quality. Dabrowski writes in an accessible, and in some places conversational, style, doing away with distracting jargon and replacing it with rhetorical questions, entertaining anecdotes, and well-chosen maps and images.

-- "Journal of Modern History"

This is a clearly presented and compellingly written survey of the history of Poland from its founding in the tenth century through to the present day.

-- "Canadian Slavonic Papers"

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175581691
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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