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Post by gardenmoma on Dec 9, 2005 10:01:40 GMT -7
George, the Science Writer, and I started discussing army conscription in Poland in the 1930s under the topic about the John Paul II movie...below is a book to which I refer for almost anything Polish  Here is the name of the book purchased when it was first printed in 1987. It is not the kind of book to snuggle with on a cold winter's night, but I do refer to it for items of Polish history: THE POLISH WAY Adam Zamoyski A thousand-year history of the Poles and their culture "A comprehensive history . . a stunner. Clear, calm, beautifully written, its scope is enormous, its story enthralling and its illustrations magnificent." Bernard Levin, The Times/London. - "Zamoyski strives to place Polish history more squarely in its European context, and he pays special attention to developments that had repercussions beyond the boundaries of the country." NY Times Book Review paperback 422 pages 6 x 9 1/4 NA 20 maps, 170 illustrations, genealogical tables & photographs ISBN: 0-7818-0200-8 As you can see it is now available in paperback. It can be ordered through any bookseller or Hippocrene Books: www.hippocrenebooks.com/cgi-bin/bookstore/bookstore.cgiDoes anyone else have any History of Poland books they think are good? |
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nancy
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Post by nancy on Dec 9, 2005 13:28:30 GMT -7
The Polish Way is indeed excellent. Another good choice is the 2-volume set by Norman Davies (links below) God's Playground Volume 1 God's Playgound Volume 2Nancy, Thanks for the recommendation. I will look into these books some time in January  Just about keeping my head above water right now. As far as Michner goes...I was amazed when I found out he had researchers on his staff...but then I decided that might not be a very bad job ;D As far as his book Poland...it does, as others have stated, have some very good passages. My favorite is, of course ;D , the passages about how food was distributed and used from the noble down to the lowest worker. Yes, too much of what he has written passes for history instead of recognizing it as "historical fiction." There is a move afoot in some of our local school districts to abolish teachers using movies to "teach history, etc." I will look into Michner's web site when things settle down a little around here...
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Post by Jaga on Dec 9, 2005 21:12:55 GMT -7
I do not have Zamojski book but Davies book about Polish history is good. There is also another author Michener - he wrote a couple of bestsellers and also a book about Polish history. I have it but I did not read it all yet, just the parts
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nancy
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Post by nancy on Dec 10, 2005 7:18:11 GMT -7
There is also another author Michener - he wrote a couple of bestsellers and also a book about Polish history. Michener wrote quite a few novels - I have read just about all of the dozen or so. His book on Poland is a novel, and although it is not a super-easy read, it is packed full of history. Plus, a lot of it is set in the southeast corner, near Lancut, so I feel as though it is set in "my" corner of Poland. I think Gierek gave him some sort of medal or honor in appreciation. |
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Post by kaima on Dec 10, 2005 10:04:35 GMT -7
I read many of Mitchener's books until I finally burned out on them and the style, but "Poland" was one I had to read. It is pretty well done and readable enough to have some people onthe internet steal historical passages and post them on web pages uncredited as history. He seems to have written history and inserted the story line, often blending the two quite well. It was his history of the battle of Tannenburg/Grunwald that I recognized.
S.E. Poland is also alng my area and he seems to include the Lubovna (Lubowna) area, which was in Polish hands for a few centuries, but the story line gets a bit confusing to follow on maps...
If you are interested in access to his research, it is aviable in the USA at some library that kept his papers. A simple search and you can locate it on the web. It would be tempthing for me to look at it someday to see what he did research, what copies of Polish doucments he has, and what unpublished translations and notes there are!
Kai the Slovak
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nancy
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Post by nancy on Dec 10, 2005 10:12:35 GMT -7
Kai,
What did you think about Michener's "Alaska" ? I loved it.
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Post by kaima on Dec 10, 2005 12:11:15 GMT -7
Kai, What did you think about Michener's "Alaska" ? I loved it. Yes, he covers a lot of good stuff and does it well. I red part of the book and let my ego take over - I had to read it until I found a mistake, and finally I did. I haven't finished the book since then (the old history interests me most, I have lived what is now the last 30+ years of "history" up here). One of the weaknesses of this forum is locating the same thread with so many categories in our setup. I cannot find where I promised Jaga a later comment on "the earliest sunrise" or such. Michener did not quite get it right. Then again, I do not follow Jaga's logic in saying Dec 6 - 14 or thereabouts. If you can point me in the right direction, perhaps I will learn better how to man over this place better and will answer then... Kai |
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nancy
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Post by nancy on Dec 10, 2005 12:42:35 GMT -7
One of the weaknesses of this forum is locating the same thread with so many categories in our setup. I cannot find where I promised Jaga a later comment on "the earliest sunrise" or such. Michener did not quite get it right. Then again, I do not follow Jaga's logic in saying Dec 6 - 14 or thereabouts. If you can point me in the right direction, perhaps I will learn better how to man over this place better and will answer then... Kai, Jaga's question about the sunrise is in the GENERAL folder, the thread is called "Quiz...when is the earliest sunrise?" One way to find old posts is to go to your profile - or that of another member - and look a the list of most recent posts - you can change the defualt of 10 to 30 or however many. Then you can select that post and go right to the thread. |
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Post by kaima on Dec 10, 2005 14:03:13 GMT -7
One of the weaknesses of this forum is locating the same thread with so many categories in our setup. I cannot find where I promised Jaga a later comment on "the earliest sunrise" or such. Michener did not quite get it right. Then again, I do not follow Jaga's logic in saying Dec 6 - 14 or thereabouts. If you can point me in the right direction, perhaps I will learn better how to man over this place better and will answer then... Kai, Jaga's question about the sunrise is in the GENERAL folder, the thread is called "Quiz...when is the earliest sunrise?" One way to find old posts is to go to your profile - or that of another member - and look a the list of most recent posts - you can change the defualt of 10 to 30 or however many. Then you can select that post and go right to the thread. Thanks Nancy, you came through. All this techno-trivia is simple enough, but I have been mastering computer systems since 1982 and all the jumble becomes a mess after mastering all of the DOS and windows systems, they change them often enough to keep the profits up and the users in a learning mode. My mind is on lousy melting snow, icy roads, ruined skiing and house framing and insulation that I should be on now instead of the computer! Kai Happy to be healthy and complaining |
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nancy
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Post by nancy on Dec 10, 2005 14:46:38 GMT -7
Methinks you just need a simple reboot.  |
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