The image of Poland has once again been impressed on European consciousness. Norman Davies provides a key to understanding the modern Polish crisis in this lucid and authoritative description of the nation’s history. Beginning with the period since 1945, he travels back in time to highlight the college girl hookup app long-term themes and traditions which have influenced present attitudes.
His evo The image of Poland has once again been impressed on European consciousness. Norman Davies provides a key to understanding the modern Polish crisis in this lucid and authoritative description of the nation’s history. Beginning with the period since 1945, he travels back in time to highlight the long-term themes and traditions which have influenced present attitudes.
His evocative account reveals Poland as the heart of Europe in more than the geographical sense. It is a country where Europe’s ideological conflicts are played out in their most acute form: as recent events have emphasized, Poland’s fate is of vital concern to European civilization as a whole.
This revised and updated edition tackles and analyses the issues arising from the fall of the Eastern Bloc, and looks at Poland’s future within a political climate of democracy and free market. . more
Community Reviews
A ‘concise’ and informative read on the breadth of Polish history. A good precursor-read to God’s Playground which comes in two volumes and contains much more detail.
Thoroughly enjoyable and eye-opening, especially for us ‘sheltered’ Westerners! A ‘concise’ and informative read on the breadth of Polish history. A good precursor-read to God’s Playground which comes in two volumes and contains much more detail.
Friend Reviews
Norman Davies made a great contribution to those of us living in North America and Western Europe by finally explaining Polish history properly to thus. This was no mean feat given how different were Polands political systems and social structures throughout most its history from those in France and England which are so familiar to us. Read both Volumes of God’s Playground his monumental survey of Polish history which is a seemingly bottomless well of insight on Poland.
The Heart of Europe is sim Norman Davies made a great contribution to those of us living in North America and Western Europe by finally explaining Polish history properly to thus. This was no mean feat given how different were Polands political systems and social structures throughout most its history from those in France and England which are so familiar to us. Read both Volumes of God’s Playground his monumental survey of Polish history which is a seemingly bottomless well of insight on Poland.
The Heart of Europe is simply a flop. Rather than a narrative history of Europe, it examines dominant themes in Polish in Poland’s historical conscious. He is most concerned with the issue that faced Poland’s aristocratic and bourgeois elites from 1783 to 1983: whether to rebel quixotically against the foreign occupiers (initially three: Russia, Prussia and Austria later reduced to one the Soviet Union) or to attempt to work constructively within the systems imposed by the occupying powers to promote Poland’s physical well-being and culture. Up until the unexpected success of Solidarity, the armed revolutionaries had done nothing but make matters worse. Six different armed revolts in two centuries had only incitee the foreign powers to oppress Poland even more harshly.
Davies thus developed a clear sympathy towards those who favoured collaborating with the occupier. sho at least managed to preserve Poland’s survival as a state and even at times to ensure a certain level of physical comfort for the Poles. In fairness to Davies, the collaborators loved Poland and its people as much as did the hotheads who instigated armed uprisings that invariably made matters worse. Davies however being a right wing person never at any point in his life had significant contacts with Poland’s blue collar workers nor its equally blue-collar clergymen. Thus he completed underestimated the strength, organization and determination of Walesa’s Solidarity and Jean Paull II’s followers who finally secured independence for Poland. The great historian in fact proved to be the worst of oracles.