Thaddeus Kosciuszko: The Purest Son of Liberty

Rating:
Summary: The Unknown Polish-American Hero.
Review: James S. Pula's book is an excellent source for those interested in the American and/or Polish History. It is devoted to Thaddeus Kosciuszko's life and accomplishments. At the same time it presents a brief history of Poland dating from prehistoric times, through times of monarchy, Liberum Veto, anarchy to the three partitions of Poland and historical events up to 1817-the year of Kosciuszko's death. The book is also an examination of some major battles of the American War of Independence (defense of Philadelphia, Saratoga, West Point, etc.). It contains very interesting pieces of correspondence between Kosciuszko and his best American friends-Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Gen. Horatio Gates. Kosciuszko's biography is presented with careful attention to detail. Pula presents many facts from Thaddeus' personal life that are not widely known and which make the Polish-American hero very human and very likable. Also, it contains three appendices: Kosciuszko's Will, and translations of Kosciuszko's Act of Insurrection, and Polaniec Manifesto (Uniwersal Polaniecki). Overall, the book is well-researched, with very interesting content, and written in simple (and elegant) English. It is a great reading material for scholars and high school students alike.

Rating:
Summary: Agree with Matherson's Review
Review: Matherson has done a very good review of this book here on Amazon, and I must completely agree with its content. This book is very well researched and footnoted. Pula clearly has thoroughly reviewed both original source material and secondary sources. Although Pula reports the less flattering things said about Kosciuszko, he dismisses them as biased. Meanwhile, any flattering thing said of Kosciuszko is thoroughly reported. The result sometimes reads as much like hagiography as biography.

We spend entirely too much time reading about the southern campaign of the revolutionary war, including focusing many pages on a stage of the campaign for which there is no documentation about Kosciuszko's whereabouts. After this, Kosciuszko's rebellion in Poland is treated in a somewhat cursory manner. Unfortuntely, Pula has failed to explain to us well enough how someone so consistently described as meek, amiable, humble, and unconcerned with self-promotion could end up being granted powers over Poland approximating that of absolute monarch. I left this book thirsting for more information about Kosciuszko's leadership in Poland, and wishing for considerably less detail about the british defenses at Ninety-six.

That said, this seems to be the best written, most thoroughly researched, most completely documented biography of Kosciuszko available in the English language today.

Rating:
Summary: Poland's Military Genius
Review: This is a very good biography of a great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, best known to Americans for his services to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Kosciuszko is credited with having devised the fieldworks at the battle of Saratoga, a series of brilliantly-devised redoubts and other defensive positions that were instrumental in defeating Burgoyne's army. Later during the war he lent his considerable talents to the design of West Point; he also strove (with less success) to conquer "Ninety-Six," a British fortress near the South Carolina-Georgia border. For his native country, however, Kosciuszko achieved immortality as the leader of the uprising of 1794, the doomed (but glorious) final attempt to stave off absorption of the Kingdom of Poland into Russian, Prussian and Austrian territory. This book is well written, well-researched and entertaining, but I must mention three noteworthy faults: first, its total absence of any statement critical of Kosciuszko; second, its relatively skimpy coverage of non-American events; and third, its failure (despite listing virtually every other tribute to Kosciuszko) to mention that Mount Kosciuszko - named by nineteenth century Polish patriots exploring southern New South Wales - is the highest mountain in Australia (no small matter).

Rating:
Summary: Poland's Military Genius
Review: This is a very good biography of a great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, best known to Americans for his services to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Kosciuszko is credited with having devised the fieldworks at the battle of Saratoga, a series of brilliantly-devised redoubts and other defensive positions that were instrumental in defeating Burgoyne's army. Later during the war he lent his considerable talents to the design of West Point; he also strove (with less success) to conquer "Ninety-Six," a British fortress near the South Carolina-Georgia border. For his native country, however, Kosciuszko achieved immortality as the leader of the uprising of 1794, the doomed (but glorious) final attempt to stave off absorption of the Kingdom of Poland into Russian, Prussian and Austrian territory. This book is well written, well-researched and entertaining, but I must mention three noteworthy faults: first, its total absence of any statement critical of Kosciuszko; second, its relatively skimpy coverage of non-American events; and third, its failure (despite listing virtually every other tribute to Kosciuszko) to mention that Mount Kosciuszko - named by nineteenth century Polish patriots exploring southern New South Wales - is the highest mountain in Australia (no small matter).