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sophia_sol) wrote2014-12-31 05:09 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2014-12-31 05:09 pm
God's Playground: A History of Poland Vol. 1, by Norman Davies
I FINALLY FINISHED IT. I've been reading this book on and off for the last four months and I'm very proud of myself for sticking with it and getting to the end. Because the thing is, it IS a very good and interesting book, it's just also extremely informationally dense and not always presented in ways that are easy for a layperson to digest.
This book (volume 1) covers the history of Poland from its beginning up to its disappearance at the third partitioning at the end of the 18th century. And mostly what I learned is that Polish history is REALLY COMPLICATED. I mean, I knew that already? But now I know it more viscerally.
I was a fan of the author right from the preface where he talks about how any historian has biases and then proceeds to lay out what perspectives he's coming from so you know what biases to read around when it comes to reading his book. GOOD WORK DUDE.
And the author clearly knows what he's talking about when it comes to Polish history. There's SO MUCH careful historical detail including lots of things like quotes from primary sources (like letters and so forth).
My two main complaints about the book would be the following:
One - it is structured ALMOST chronologically but NOT QUITE. So it's, like, organized by topic and the topics are organized chronologically. Which is just the worst because it meant I was CONSTANTLY getting confused as to what happened when in relation to other things and so I wasn't able to properly see the ways in which events and situations affected each other. Urgh.
Two - he kept on talking about events by talking about one specific person after another. And it's like, way to lose sight of the forest for the trees. It just became a whole clutter of details that I couldn't see how they were supposed to fit together because all the dudes (almost all of the people talked about were dudes) just blurred into each other and I often couldn't tell WHY the author had chosen to tell us about this particular dude. This was worst in the chapter on diplomacy, which was basically "let me tell you about one diplomatic personage after another" and I'm just like OKAY BUT TELL ME WHY THIS MATTERS. This was the chapter I got really bogged down in and put aside the book for several months straight.
But other than those issues it is a very good book! Just...maybe not intended for the layperson who comes into the book knowing very little about Poland at all.
Some of the things I found particularly interesting:
- Reading about the structure of a medieval european society that is distinctly different from the generic middle ages one generally hears about! Among other things: even their way of doing heraldry is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. And super fascinating! The bit about Polish heraldry was definitely one of the bits where I was most riveted. Heraldic clans that have nothing to do with who you're related to or anything else comprehensible! aww yeah!
- Learning about the economic and societal importance of the Vistula River
- getting more of a sense of just how intertwined with each other basically all of europe is and always has been
- and of course the partitioning of Poland. (Hi Feuilly, yes, I get why you care so much now!)
The chapter on the three partitionings of Poland was the last chapter in this volume and it was a very strong way to end the book. It was RIVETING. But also let me quote you a paragraph:
AWW YEAH, what a good paragraph.
In conclusion, yes I kind of want to read the second volume (covers up to sometime in the early 1980's, when Norman Davies was writing), but also I don't want to spend four months reading the second volume. I think I shall leave well enough alone and be content with just volume one.
This book (volume 1) covers the history of Poland from its beginning up to its disappearance at the third partitioning at the end of the 18th century. And mostly what I learned is that Polish history is REALLY COMPLICATED. I mean, I knew that already? But now I know it more viscerally.
I was a fan of the author right from the preface where he talks about how any historian has biases and then proceeds to lay out what perspectives he's coming from so you know what biases to read around when it comes to reading his book. GOOD WORK DUDE.
And the author clearly knows what he's talking about when it comes to Polish history. There's SO MUCH careful historical detail including lots of things like quotes from primary sources (like letters and so forth).
My two main complaints about the book would be the following:
One - it is structured ALMOST chronologically but NOT QUITE. So it's, like, organized by topic and the topics are organized chronologically. Which is just the worst because it meant I was CONSTANTLY getting confused as to what happened when in relation to other things and so I wasn't able to properly see the ways in which events and situations affected each other. Urgh.
Two - he kept on talking about events by talking about one specific person after another. And it's like, way to lose sight of the forest for the trees. It just became a whole clutter of details that I couldn't see how they were supposed to fit together because all the dudes (almost all of the people talked about were dudes) just blurred into each other and I often couldn't tell WHY the author had chosen to tell us about this particular dude. This was worst in the chapter on diplomacy, which was basically "let me tell you about one diplomatic personage after another" and I'm just like OKAY BUT TELL ME WHY THIS MATTERS. This was the chapter I got really bogged down in and put aside the book for several months straight.
But other than those issues it is a very good book! Just...maybe not intended for the layperson who comes into the book knowing very little about Poland at all.
Some of the things I found particularly interesting:
- Reading about the structure of a medieval european society that is distinctly different from the generic middle ages one generally hears about! Among other things: even their way of doing heraldry is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. And super fascinating! The bit about Polish heraldry was definitely one of the bits where I was most riveted. Heraldic clans that have nothing to do with who you're related to or anything else comprehensible! aww yeah!
- Learning about the economic and societal importance of the Vistula River
- getting more of a sense of just how intertwined with each other basically all of europe is and always has been
- and of course the partitioning of Poland. (Hi Feuilly, yes, I get why you care so much now!)
The chapter on the three partitionings of Poland was the last chapter in this volume and it was a very strong way to end the book. It was RIVETING. But also let me quote you a paragraph:
In the last resort, of course, all such moral protests are distinctly double-edged. As Bismarck was wont to point out, the partitions of Poland were no more reprehensible, and no less, than the Polish partitions of Ruthenia in the fourteenth century, or of Prussia in the ffifteenth. The were no worse, or better, than the colonial partitions of Asia, Africa, and America, which all the European powers were about to undertake. All states are created by force, and all come into being by cannibalizing their predecessors. The special sense of outrage which attended the fate of the Polish Republic was partly due to the fact that European princes had eaten a fellow European.
AWW YEAH, what a good paragraph.
In conclusion, yes I kind of want to read the second volume (covers up to sometime in the early 1980's, when Norman Davies was writing), but also I don't want to spend four months reading the second volume. I think I shall leave well enough alone and be content with just volume one.
no subject
Uh, that was a side track. Anyway! I really should read this book sometime! And it does sound very interesting.
no subject