Rating: 
Summary: You cannot be serious, Professor Davies
Review: A patently biased book on the history of Poland, the perennial victim of the European balance of power system and Great Power Realpolitik. As one of the lesse nations smacked right between the expansiopnist German/Prussian and Russian Empires, Poland is destined to be carved up if it does not play its catds well, and align itself as junior partner/protectorate with either one of the behemoths. Instead, Poland tried to play off one against the other, while repressing its own ethnic minorities with typical Slavic brutality. Domestically chaotic, and diplomatically inept, Poland ended up being thegreat game of political competition/rivalries between Austria, Prussia, Russia, France and Britain in the Great War as it was between the Allies and the Axis in the Second World War.
Till today Poland has still not learned the lesson. now it's trying to be, like Britain, the weight that tips the scale between the EC and US, to no avail.
For a refreshing look at Poland, consult, not this superficial work by Davies, but the majestic book The Transformation of European Politics by Paul Schroeder.
Rating:
Summary: Good histories of Poland are rare, and this is not one.
Review: Although God's Playground covers a large chunk of Poland's history, Davies relies heavily on sources which are not very historically reliable. In reference to the uprising of 1830, he quotes extensively from literary sources (e.g., Romantic poets), without much in the way of alternative documentation, such as archival research; in his extraordinarily brief discussion of the 1846 peasant jacquerie in Galicia, he lays full blame for this bloody expression of peasants' resentment towards the Polish gentry entirely upon the Austrian authorities, an interpretation of events that is dubious at best. Davies also has a strong tendency himself to romanticize his subject matter. For example, in his section on the lives of the peasants, he includes a long quote from a foreign traveller/observer who talks about how the peasants "live lustily", a fairly typical Slavophilic view of the peasants. However, he accepts this account on its face value without intervening commentary. For the student of Polish history, God's Playground is very disappointing
Rating: 
Summary: Truth from a distant land
Review: As Norman Davies himself writes in the preface, writing about history of another country is not an easy task. However, he seems to have done a great job, especially when one considers the amount of bibliography material available only in Polish.Being Polish myself, and an amateur historian, I have read many books about Polish history - but this is the first one I read in English. I am very pleasantly suprised, and would rank it among the top in its category. The fact that the writer is not Polish, nor of any country whose history and present have been recently shaped by it is not a handicap, on the contrary, it guarantees that the book is unbiased. Final verdict: a very good book
Rating: 
Summary: Reader's reviews of Polish history are rarely unbiased
Review: Davies sympathized with Poland as a nation wrongly accused of not doing enough during WW II to help save its Jews from the Nazis. His opinions conflicted with Jewish academics', with whom he quarreled. Those differences in opinion are worth noting by any serious student of Polish history and should not, in any case, be used as an excuse to criticize everything Davies has written. An earlier reader/review characterizes the expression that peasants "live lustily" as a "fairly typical Slavophilic view." Obviously he\she is not Slavic, and the comment and its context is certainly negative. Makes me wonder what people's view the reader represents?
Rating:
Summary: A Must Own
Review: Everyone ought to have this book in their library. Any book written by Norman Davies should be read. The guy is THAT good!!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book
Review: Excellent book. Few years back Norman Davies received an honorary diploma from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow for his outstanding achievements. This book was recognized as a masterpiece, translated into Polish, and is currently used by undergraduate and graduate students in Poland. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Historical Account of a Much-Neglected Nation
Review: Few English-speaking peoples know much about the accomplishments of the Polish people. The very readable work by Davies, an Englishman, goes a long way to fill in the gap.
Rating:
Summary: Davies gives a thorough and balanced view of Polish History
Review: God's Playground is currently being used by many schools in Poland as the textbook of Polish history. It was writen in English, and was translated into Polish to be used in schools. It is very thorough, well balanced, and focuses on the Mickiewicz point of view. The book is a good reflection of how Poles see their history. Russophiles probably wouldn't enjoy this very Polish view of history, but it is well written, well researched, and interesting! This is the first book about Polish history, that was translated into Polish to be used in Polish schools.
Rating:
Summary: Best History of Poland
Review: I did not read this book yet, but I heard it is excellent. If you send the book to me and i receive it, I will write a review. W. Szybalski
Rating:
Summary: Best History of Poland
Review: I did not read this book yet, but I heard it is excellent. If you send the book to me and i receive it, I will write a review. W. Szybalski
|
