Poland: The First Thousand Years

In this sprawling and ambitious work, University of Vienna historian Dabrowski (Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland) proceeds systematically from Poland's foundational myths, with their roots at the end of the first millennium, to the fall of Communism and the establishment of democracy in 1989. For much of this time, Dabrowski's subject lacked a place on the map, but she makes a persuasive case that the enduring idea of Poland foreshadows the modern integration of Europe. In the Middle Ages, Poles and Lithuanians formed a polity where "creative consensus building would become the framework of a union that would remain the standard for centuries to come," and while sectarian battles raged throughout the continent, the religious tolerance of "Poland-Lithuania set the country apart." Dabrowski avoids academic prose, and even those with no background will find the text engrossing. Precise yet lyrical, she convincingly connects the lessons of Polish history to issues of universal import. In 1791, the Great Seym drafted Europe's first constitution, and as Dabrowski relates, the delegates' central question still echoes today in many turbulent regions of the world: "Could not the human gift of reason, so valued by Enlightenment thinkers, be utilized to find a happy synthesis between... new ideas and valuable aspects of the past?" Maps and illus. (Oct.)