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Poland is a major European country with nearly 40 million inhabitants and a land area comparable to Spain. It has played a major role in European history but its subjugation by foreign powers in the nineteenth century and during the Cold War eclipsed Poland in the minds of many in Western Europe and the United States. Throughout its long and diverse history it has been a meeting place of many cultures and has given the world the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz, the music of Chopin, and the show more scientific discoveries of Copernicus and Marie Curie, to name but a few. In A Traveller's History of Poland, John Radzilowski vividly describes the beginnings of the country, first fragmented then reborn to overcome the aggression of the Teutonic Knights and its greedy neighbors. Poland enjoyed a Golden Age in the fifteen and sixteenth centuries but a gradual decline then led to Poland losing its autonomy despite winning many battles with its army's legendary military skill and gallantry. Yet the spirit of the country and its people lived on. Since the horrors of the Second World War and Soviet control, Poland has gradually regained its rightful place in Europe, joining NATO in 1989 and in May 2004, the EU. It is playing a new role on the European and international stage. This makes now an ideal time to introduce students and travellers to Poland and its complex history. The book includes a full chronology, a list of monarchs and rulers, a gazetteer, historical maps and is fully illustrated. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
a concise history, but it's not exactly ... gripping. the illustrations seem like they came from a google image search, and i found some serious grammatical errors throughout, which just exacerbates the non-grippingness of the text (what? it's a word. kinda). still, i feel like i know a lot more about my adopted country now. do you realize that when fighting the russians after WWI, in a desperate and ultimately succesful attempt to get their country back, people fought with whatever they had, including priests, who tried to hold back the attacking hoards with crucifixes?
that's awesome.
that's awesome.
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Author Information
9 Works 70 Members
John Radzilowski is the author or co-author of half a dozen books and over a hundred articles on a wide variety of topics. He received his BA in 1989 from Southwest State University (Marshall, Minn.) and his Ph.D. in history in 1999 from Arizona State University. He has written extensively on the history of Polish Americans: on their rural show more communities, on organizational life, on crime and the underworld, on Polish Americans in World War II, and on the role of Catholicism and parishes. He has also written on the history of many other immigrant groups, on the history of Poland and east-central Europe, on the history of the state of Minnesota, on the problems and history of rural Midwestern communities, and on military history. He lives in Minnesota show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Traveller's History of Poland
- Important places
- Poland
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Travel, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 943.8 — History & geography History of Europe Central Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech, Poland, Hungary Poland
- LCC
- DK4140 .R33 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics – Poland History of Poland History
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 30
- Popularity
- 926,905
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 4
