|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Poland: A history
und über 1 Million weitere Bücher verfügbar für Amazon Kindle .
Erfahren Sie mehr
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Gutschein erhalten
Tauschen Sie jetzt Poland: A History gegen einen Amazon-Gutschein in Höhe von EUR 1,35 ein - einlösbar für Tausende von Artikeln bei Amazon.de. Entdecken Sie mehr eintauschbare Bücher im Bücher Trade-In Shop. Bitte beachten Sie die Teilnahmebedingungen.
 Jetzt für Amazon Student anmelden und um 20% erhöhten Eintauschwert sichern. |
Wird oft zusammen gekauft
Produktinformation
|
Produktbeschreibungen
Pressestimmen
'Invaluable and eye-opening.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent 'An excellent book.' Financial Times 'Fresh, different and brilliantly readable!It is the perfect introduction for those who know nothing about the country, yet will also provide some positive food for thought to those who imagined they knew it all too well.' Spectator 'A dramatic history of Poland that captures the spirit of its people!Such an extraordinary national trajectory demands an accessible and scholarly accounting. Zamoyski succeeds admirably in providing both.' Daily Telegraph 'For the past 25 years, thanks to the efforts of Adam Zamoyski, we have been better informed about the history and character of Poland than about any other East European country!Zamoyski's new perspective on an old culture and its modern political liberty is!presented with a new, confident sense of freedom.' The Times 'Eminently readable.' TLS 'Shrewd!an excellent section on the country and its politics since '89.' Independent on Sunday Praise for '1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow': 'So brilliant that it is impossible to put the book aside!a master craftsman at work.' Michael Burleigh, Sunday Times 'A brilliant piece of narrative history, full of sparkling set-pieces.' T. J. Binyon, Sunday Telegraph 'One of the greatest stories ever told.' Spectator Praise for 'Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna': 'Outstanding -- a delicious, triumphant feast of a book.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Daily Mail 'Magnificent!both an intellectual and literary joy to read.' The Times
Kurzbeschreibung
Adam Zamoyski first wrote his history of Poland two years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. This substantially revised and updated edition sets the Soviet era in the context of the rise, fall and remarkable rebirth of an indomitable nation. In 1797, Russia, Prussia and Austria divided Poland among themselves, rewriting Polish history to show that they had brought much-needed civilisation to a primitive backwater. But the country they wiped off the map had been one of Europe's largest and most richly varied, born of diverse cultural traditions and one of the boldest constitutional experiments ever attempted. Its destruction ultimately led to two world wars and the Cold War. Zamoyski's fully revised history of Poland looks back over a thousand years of turmoil and triumph, chronicling how Poland has been restored at last to its rightful place in Europe.
In diesem Buch
(Mehr dazu)
Ausgewählte Seiten ansehen
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Stichwortverzeichnis | Rückseite
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Stichwortverzeichnis | Rückseite
Vorgeschlagene Tags zu ähnlichen Produkten(Was ist das?)Setzen Sie den ersten relevanten Tag hinzu (ein Schlüsselwort, das mit diesem Produkt in engem Zusammenhang steht).
|
Kundenrezensionen
Es gibt noch keine Kundenrezensionen auf Amazon.de
5 Sterne
4 Sterne
3 Sterne
2 Sterne
1 Sterne
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen auf Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 Rezensionen
5 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Terrific summary of complex history
8. Juni 2010
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Poland has had a very long and complicated history, disappearing and reappearing from the map many times, and moreover possessing a constitution and respect for civil liberties unique to late medieval and Renaissance Europe.
Zamoyski does a terrific job of clarifying the events of this intricate story. He is particularly good at explaining why things happened the way they did in simple language that does not dumb down the topic (I know, obvious for a historian but often ignored), and what underlying historical currents were at play. I found the discussion of the 17th-century "reign of anarchy," the constitutional political culture, and the election of the kings to be especially illuminating, but really, the entire book is full of moments where I said, "wow, so THAT's what actually happened!"
In G-d's Playground, Davies is insufferably chauvinistic and gets bogged down in unnecessary detail; Zamoyski avoids all these mistakes and produces a readable, intelligent, and highly coherent survey.
The only caveats are more subtle, and based more on what is not said than what is said. Zamoyski is a Polish patriot hidden in the historian's objective cloak; he almost entirely neglects the competing interests of the various people once subsumed under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Hungarians, Bohemians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians. One needs to look elsewhere to understand the interests of these peoples. I can't really fault Zamoyski for this, since the book would have been too unwieldy otherwise. But it's true, these other peoples appear mostly as stick figures in Poland's "empire."
The other problem is that he devotes only scattered paragraphs to the long Jewish presence in Poland. These are extremely well-written paragraphs, but nevertheless something is lacking. Zamoyski is so dispassionate, it is hard to tell if he thinks that anti-Semitism was a crime or even unjust (and I mean in the several centuries preceding the Holocaust). Regarding the Holocaust, he seems much more concerned with the damage it did to Poland's image, rather than exploring the roots of the terrible tragedy, surely one of the most momentous and horrible things to ever happen on Polish soil. He doesn't even make obvious gestures such as condemning the Home Army's stupidity in simultaneously rejecting Nazi ideology yet denying Jews the chance to enter its ranks.
Nevertheless, these caveats do not detract from a really superb book. As a Jew of partially Polish ancestry, I had always wondered what the larger context was, why the Jews settled in Poland and what was going on in that country outside of Jewish life. Most Jewish sources concentrate solely on either anti-Semitism or religious movements, and I found it so satisfying to understand the political, legal, and economic context. It really filled a gap in my knowledge and I'm grateful that I read the book.
Zamoyski does a terrific job of clarifying the events of this intricate story. He is particularly good at explaining why things happened the way they did in simple language that does not dumb down the topic (I know, obvious for a historian but often ignored), and what underlying historical currents were at play. I found the discussion of the 17th-century "reign of anarchy," the constitutional political culture, and the election of the kings to be especially illuminating, but really, the entire book is full of moments where I said, "wow, so THAT's what actually happened!"
In G-d's Playground, Davies is insufferably chauvinistic and gets bogged down in unnecessary detail; Zamoyski avoids all these mistakes and produces a readable, intelligent, and highly coherent survey.
The only caveats are more subtle, and based more on what is not said than what is said. Zamoyski is a Polish patriot hidden in the historian's objective cloak; he almost entirely neglects the competing interests of the various people once subsumed under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Hungarians, Bohemians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians. One needs to look elsewhere to understand the interests of these peoples. I can't really fault Zamoyski for this, since the book would have been too unwieldy otherwise. But it's true, these other peoples appear mostly as stick figures in Poland's "empire."
The other problem is that he devotes only scattered paragraphs to the long Jewish presence in Poland. These are extremely well-written paragraphs, but nevertheless something is lacking. Zamoyski is so dispassionate, it is hard to tell if he thinks that anti-Semitism was a crime or even unjust (and I mean in the several centuries preceding the Holocaust). Regarding the Holocaust, he seems much more concerned with the damage it did to Poland's image, rather than exploring the roots of the terrible tragedy, surely one of the most momentous and horrible things to ever happen on Polish soil. He doesn't even make obvious gestures such as condemning the Home Army's stupidity in simultaneously rejecting Nazi ideology yet denying Jews the chance to enter its ranks.
Nevertheless, these caveats do not detract from a really superb book. As a Jew of partially Polish ancestry, I had always wondered what the larger context was, why the Jews settled in Poland and what was going on in that country outside of Jewish life. Most Jewish sources concentrate solely on either anti-Semitism or religious movements, and I found it so satisfying to understand the political, legal, and economic context. It really filled a gap in my knowledge and I'm grateful that I read the book.
5 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
The Best History of Poland
2. April 2010
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Poland: A History by Adam Zamoyski is an update of his extremely popular "The Polish Way: A Thousand-year History of the Poles and their Culture," which was last revised in 1990 and had become hopelessly out of date. Poland: A History brings the reader right up to 2009. Although not yet available in the U.S. it can easily be purchased through amazon.co.uk.
Zamoyski does a masterful job of covering the major currents of one-thousand years of Polish history in just over four-hundred pages. While "Poland" lacks the depth of Davies's "God's Playground," the reader is spared Davies's unabashed chauvinism.
Zamoyski does a masterful job of covering the major currents of one-thousand years of Polish history in just over four-hundred pages. While "Poland" lacks the depth of Davies's "God's Playground," the reader is spared Davies's unabashed chauvinism.
5 von 7 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Filling a knowledge gap, but in a mediocre style
5. November 2010
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Poland occupies a blind spot in our historic knowledge. Yes, everybody has heard, vaguely, about the beautifully tragical story of Poland. But rarely is Poland mantioned in our school histories, the only exceptions being the division of Poland between Austria, Russia and Prussia and the German attack on Poland as the start of the 2nd World War.
Thus it was with great interest that I bought Zamoyski's history of Poland. Zamoyski guides us with a reasonably deft hand through Polands medieaval history. Yet already here I start being overwhelmed. What is missing is the red line. Yes, we all know that history does not necessarily follow a narrative. Yet is it not the role of an author or historian to bring everything into the proper perspective. Poland, at the crossroads between east and west, is uniquely positioned to show how international history influences and is influenced by local history. Yet his perspective remains (mostly) stubbornly Polish. Yes, we learn that Poland probably was a relative oasis of calm during the great convulsions of the middle ages and especially later during the 30 years war which devastated Germany. Yet is there not more to Polish history than a long list of kings following each other? Was Poland only influenced by its neighbours or did it also influence them? What about the Hanseatic League and Poland? And are there no worthwhile miniatures which would help the reader to develope more of a feeling for times and places?
Sadly also the book seems to accelerate towards the end. The events in Poland which shaped our times are treated very casually. as an example - to me it remained unclear why General Jaruzelski actually stepped aside to let a modern democratic Poland arise.
Other nationalities get short thrift. Poland, like most medieaval states, was multiethnic. Yet what die the Lithuanians think about Polish rule, how far was Silesia German or not, how did minorities fare during the interwar years - all this is neglected. Here Zamoyski cannot hide that he is a Polish patriot.
He is (to my knowledge) not deliberately distorting any facts, but his perspective remains a clearly Polish one, with all non-polish participants mostly being reduced to the role of props in a Polish tragedy.
Thus it was with great interest that I bought Zamoyski's history of Poland. Zamoyski guides us with a reasonably deft hand through Polands medieaval history. Yet already here I start being overwhelmed. What is missing is the red line. Yes, we all know that history does not necessarily follow a narrative. Yet is it not the role of an author or historian to bring everything into the proper perspective. Poland, at the crossroads between east and west, is uniquely positioned to show how international history influences and is influenced by local history. Yet his perspective remains (mostly) stubbornly Polish. Yes, we learn that Poland probably was a relative oasis of calm during the great convulsions of the middle ages and especially later during the 30 years war which devastated Germany. Yet is there not more to Polish history than a long list of kings following each other? Was Poland only influenced by its neighbours or did it also influence them? What about the Hanseatic League and Poland? And are there no worthwhile miniatures which would help the reader to develope more of a feeling for times and places?
Sadly also the book seems to accelerate towards the end. The events in Poland which shaped our times are treated very casually. as an example - to me it remained unclear why General Jaruzelski actually stepped aside to let a modern democratic Poland arise.
Other nationalities get short thrift. Poland, like most medieaval states, was multiethnic. Yet what die the Lithuanians think about Polish rule, how far was Silesia German or not, how did minorities fare during the interwar years - all this is neglected. Here Zamoyski cannot hide that he is a Polish patriot.
He is (to my knowledge) not deliberately distorting any facts, but his perspective remains a clearly Polish one, with all non-polish participants mostly being reduced to the role of props in a Polish tragedy.
Waren diese Rezensionen hilfreich?
Wir wollen von Ihnen hören.
Kunden diskutieren
|
Das Forum zu diesem Produkt
Fragen stellen, Meinungen austauschen, Einblicke gewinnen Aktive Diskussionen in ähnlichen Foren
Kundendiskussionen durchsuchen
|
Ähnliche Foren
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lieblingslisten
Ähnliche Artikel finden
Anhand des Sachgebietes nach ähnlichen Produkten suchen:
Ihr Kommentar
Möchten Sie die Produktinformationen aktualisieren oder Feedback zu den Produktabbildungen geben?
|
