Poland: A History

Description

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.

Author description

Adam Zamoyski was born in New York but has spent most of his life in England. A freelance historian with a singular command of languages, his recent books include '1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow', 'Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna' and 'Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe'. He is married to the painter Emma Sergeant.