Poland

by James A. Michener

Like the heroic land that is its subject, James Michener's POLAND teems with vivid events and unforgettble characters. In the sweeping span of eight tumultuous centuries, three Polish families live out their destinies and the drama of a nation—in the grand tradition of a great James Michener saga.

"POLAND is a monumental effort, a magnificent guide to a better understanding of the country's tribulations."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Poland, Historical, Novels, Audiobook, Literature

556 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This epic is a phenomenal account of a remarkable nation and a remarkable people.
It documents the resilience of the Polish people, in the face of experiencing their nation being crushed by invaders and more powerful neighbors, so many times.

It begins in 1981, at the time that Poland lay under the heel of Communist tyranny, as a puppet of that Evil Empire, the Soviet Union, introducing us to the brave Polish farmers leader, Janko Buk, who out of love of his people, prepares to take on the might of the cruel Marxist-Leninist monolith.

We are then taken back to AD 1204, to discover how Poland bravely stood against the ravages of the savage Mongol and Tartar hordes sweeping through Europe from the East.

Michener then documents the repeated rape of Poland through history, by the Germans from the West and the Swedes from the North, as well as the brave role played by the Polish in beating back the Islamic Ottoman invasion of Europe from the south. (Is Europe once more faced by an Islamic invasion in the 21st century?).

Through the various partitions of that country, whereby Austria, Prussia/Germany and Russia, divided that nation amongst themselves, like a cake.

Finally in the 20th Century, Poland again re-emerged free in 1918, but only for a short while, and was to experience being at the receiving end of the two cruellest and most vicious movements in history, Communism and Nazism (may both be erased forever!)

Through this sage we get to know many amazing men and women, representing a most resilient nation.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweeping historical that focuses on eight significant periods of Polish history.

I am in one of those strange reading phenomenas...this isn't my first time "visiting" Poland BUT it is the first time I ever read a book about Poland or set in Poland that isn't exclusively talking about the Holocaust. In fact, type in your search engine "books set in or about Poland" and be prepared to be not surprised.

So what did Michener teach me? Well, the country of Poland and its people have been at the centre of a lot of conflict through the centuries. Time and time again, the scenes in the story seem to show other countries ( such as Russia, Germany, France, and Austria) feeling deeply devoted to keeping Poland under their thumb. Despite this need to quell the happiness of the people, Michener points out the resilience of a people that he obviously came to admire. As he states in his foreword, he travelled to Poland eight times and traced the steps of his characters and consulted many historians and collections.

So this book certainly was interesting but having read a few of the author's other works, I found this one a bit dry. As I had mentioned earlier, Poland was a big target. Plenty of times it was invaded and villages destroyed and people killed. So Michener is definitely writing from the angle of a military historian with all of the strategies and tactics used. Secondly, I felt that all characters no matter what period of time or century were the same-whether fictional or real suffered the dialogue came across as stilted and repetitive.

Also Michener describes many Polish figures featured as ugly- even grotesquely ugly. The one or two women who sound even remotely interesting he disposes of quickly..The latter doesn't surprise me as it makes him a product of his time and in his books he does tend to follow the male line.

Overall, I do want to find a few more books that provide more details on certain periods of history that this book does touch on.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poland was one of several Michener historical novels I read in the late 70s and early 80s, when it seemed everybody else was doing the same. I rarely hear him mentioned these days and wonder why.

I hadn't intended to read it again now, but a copy fell into my lap, and after opening it idly I was hooked.

Large chunks of the story had stayed with me over the years. I remembered Michener's accounts of the invasions by Tatars and Swedes, and the unspeakable things those people did (wonder why modern-day Poles don't seem to have a chip on their shoulders the way other nations do about past atrocities). I remembered the three layers of Polish society that Michener portrays as a constant throughout the eight centuries that are covered -- the pragmatic but usually self-centered upper nobility, the more romantic but perhaps more selfish gentry, and the serfs, who are taken completely for granted by their masters while steadfastly serving as the country's greatest resource.

Reading Poland's long tale of woe, I thought of Arnold Toynbee's ironic quote, "History is something unpleasant that happens to other people. We are comfortably outside all of that I am sure." My first reading was during "Morning in America," when one might have been excused for feeling safely insulated from such terrible events. This time, beginning with the opening scene in which modern-day Poles confront the reality that communism has failed them, through the point near the end when a true believer betrays his compatriot over an ideological disagreement, I found reason to wonder how closely events over the next generation or so, much closer to home, may replicate what is portrayed here.

The good news is that after every calamity, Michener's Poles rebuild. So, taking the long view, it's probably reasonable to hope that our descendents can do the same, after the lessons of history have been learned yet again.

[John Eliade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like James Michener a lot. That said, it's obvious that he's not for everybody and in fact, I would argue that most people are not reading James Michener correctly. And before you say, "You shouldn't need to be told how to read something in order to be able to read it," I would say this: people should have some understanding of say, the Bible, or the Qur'an, or of Nietzche, or Plato, or Buddhist Sutras before you start engaging with them. Or if you're trying to argue that that's intense philosophy, not fictional novels, well you have a selection to choose from, because we do the same with Shakespeare's plays, with Dickens' novels, etc. So I'd argue that a primer is necessary for those who are not familiar with the novels of James Michener.

Michener has been called "the King of beach reading," which I find mysterious because his books are massive and (if you are reading a hard-cover, first edition copy like I was) can cause wrist cramps which doesn't seem ideal while lying on coastal paradise, being enveloped into the annals of a country that was raped by historical forces and the madness of humanity over and over again.

James Michener, quite simply, tries to capture the essence of an era into a novelized format. For example, his novel "Space" begins with the close of the second World War and the escape of Peenemunde scientists from the Third Reich to the United States, and ends with the development of the Space Shuttle. And between those important events, it covers the political intrigue, the military-industrial terror of the '60s and '70s, the excitement and thrill of landing on the moon, the pop culture and misinformation of the American people, and then the tragedy of space accidents like Apollo 1. And all through these epic events, the mystical location, and the representative characters, there's the theme woven through the novel: what is humanity's next step?

Knowing what you know now, you can probably construct the basics of Michener's Poland: it's about a fictional village (Bukowo) on the Vistula between Krakow and Warsaw. It features three families representing the nobility (Lubonski), the rising middle class (Bukowski), and the peasantry (Buk). And it is woven through with an important theme immortalized in this phrase:

"A Pole is a man born with a sword in one hand and a brick in the other. When the fighting is over, he rebuilds."

When Michener wrote Poland, it was one of the most prosperous nations in the Warsaw Pact, and was facing the least of the Soviet repressions, the memory of the Nazi terror in Poland was still fresh in everyone's mind, and with Karol Wojtyla just elected to the Papacy in Rome, he began his historical research.

The first four chapters represent essentially the entirety of Polish history: "From the East," "West," "North," "South," discussing the events and effects of the invasions of Poland (or just Eastern Europe in general) by the Tatars in the 1240s, the Teutonic Knights in 1410, the Swedish Protestants in the 1650s, and the Turkish attempt to capture Vienna, famously defeated by the Polish King Jan Sobieski in 1683. In addition to the fictional families of Bukowo that are witnessing the attacks on their nation, Michener also introduces the Von Eschl family who begin as the hereditary rulers of the Teutonic Knights, dedicated to the Germanization of Poland.

All of the historical set up in the book builds up to two main events: the Partition, and "The Terror," describing World War II in Poland.

Michener represents Poland as a nation ahead of its time. At the end of the eighteenth century she was busy viciously attempting to adopt sorts of reforms that would allow a gentle rise of a middle class, a pacified peasantry, but ultimately to the emasculation of the nobility:

"There was no justification for this terrible rape of a free land. Such nations as Switzerland had long been encouraged to exist as buffers between larger powers, and there was no reason why Poland should have been denied this privilege, except that she had committed two fatal errors: she had evolved no way to defend herself with a stable government, regular taxation and a dependable army; and in her weakness she had endeavored to initiate freedoms which threatened the autocracies which surrounded her. Had her neighbors been England, France and America instead of Russia, Prussia and Austria, she would surely have been permitted to exist, for the innovations she was proposing were merely extensions of what that first trio had already accepted. To be both weak and daring is for a nation an impossibility."

Instead, she opted to protect what was called "The Golden Freedom," the ability for Polish nobles to veto any action of the (elected) monarch, and instead lost all freedoms for well over a century. Her short lived republic between the World Wars ended tragically, once again caught in her nightmare of being torn apart by the Germans to her west and the Russians to her east.

I have not been to Poland yet, but in 1910, my great grandfather arrived in America from (what was) the Russian "Kingdom of Poland." The quote above about swords and bricks really resonates with me, and I can see how that cultural standpoint works so well in my family history. Or even this one from the Tatar invasion, which explains certain facial features those of us with Polish heritage might find ourselves staring at Asian friends in the mirror and wondering:

"Of course, in February of 1242 they did produce bastards, but young ones were so earnestly needed to rebuild the settlement that no disgrace adhered to them. Such events, repeated over the centuries, accounted for the fact that many Poles along the Vistula would have darkened skins and eyes slightly aslant, as if they represented echoes out of Asia."

I look forward to going to Poland in the near future and seeing how well Michener's novel holds up to the feeling of being in Poland in the 21st Century, because he presents a fantastic image of its history, with all the bravery, the challenge, and the foreshadowing of triumph that Poland would soon achieve (He mentions Lech Walesa a few pages in, and remember, this was first published in 1983, prior to his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, and his future election in the Polish Solidarity Revolution).

It's an excellent introduction to Michener fiction, just remember that when you see characters espousing expository dialogue, that they aren't fictional characters like you might see in other novelists' work: they're personified segments of entire portions of a society. In a certain and important way, we all are.

Even those of us who are echoes out of Poland.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I am not Polish, I lived in Warsaw for 5 years around the millenium change and learned the language and a bit about Polish history during this time. So I wondered whether there will be anything new for me in this book. There was ! The main events (Tartar Invasion, Battle of Grundwald, Polish Divisions in the 18th century and Poland's fight against the German invasion during WWII) were known to me, but there were many details and insights that I found beneficial. It was entertaining to listen to the audiobook. I can overlook small inconsistencies and minor historical mistakes, what annoyed me however, was the wrong pronounciation of Polish names, that made understanding sometimes difficult.

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I knew about Poland was pretty limited—that the Second World War began with Hitler’s invasion of the country, and of course, Pope John Paul II, but not very much else. I’d honestly forgotten that Marie Curie was Polish as was Chopin. So, Michener’s book was a great way for me to get to know more about this land. Michener sets his story in the fictional village of Bukowo, and around three families, the peasant Buk, the lesser noble Bukowski, and the magnate Lubonski, and we follow members of these families from the thirteenth century to the 1980s where the story opens and closes. The story opens with negotiations between farmers and the government in 1980s Poland, the farmer from the Buk family and the minister from the Bukowskis, with the government’s stand being communist and Russian, and the farmers’ a demand for more freedom, and better work conditions. From there we travel back to 1204, and then through Polish history back to this time to see how the dispute is finally resolved. Poland is a country with no natural borders, which, along with its system of government where the elected ruler was never allowed to have much power lest he deprive the magnates of theirs, led the country to always fall prey to invaders—some invasions were repulsed, others not, so for a period of over 140 years, the country even ceased to exist, having been divided between Germany, Russia, and Austria. But it was resilient and always rebuilt all that was destroyed, time and time again.

The book, as is the case with Michener, gave me a holistic picture of the country, of major events—a lot of which were wars and invasions and of the character, the resilience of this country. Besides war, music is another theme that Michener explores, Polish music vis-à-vis others, not as structured but with a spirit of its own. The long chapter on the second world war and how it impacted the country was somewhat of an eye-opener for me, because I really didn’t know or realise the extent to which the Polish people (those who weren’t Jewish) were also targeted, and lost their lives in concentration camps. Michener picks up some of the most horrifying incidents in Majdaneck which are chilling, heartbreaking, and leave one without words. But worse than that, the end of that chapter was as much or more ominous that the chapter itself, for the end of the war didn’t spell the end of the trials for the country. In fact, the book itself also ends on a rather ominous note, but of course this is speaking of circumstances forty years ago. But aside from this, I enjoyed following the various characters, and their stories—it took some getting used to to make a connection between the various generations and family members but once I got my head around that, I began to enjoy (not that this is the right word considering all the hardships the faced) following their stories, and seeing how things turned out for all of them. This was an excellent read, although sombre in tone mostly, and with much that was heartbreaking.

[Andrew Breslin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in Poland about 20 years ago, hanging out with two Polish friends, one of whom spoke three languages fluently, the other, five. We were having a fascinating conversation comparing humor across languages and cultures. I asked what subjects were targets of traditional Slavic levity, and they told me the most popular type of jokes usually poked fun at policemen and draconian government officials. This was just a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its decades of oppression in the region, so this seemed entirely reasonable.

"What type of jokes do you make in the US?" they asked "Who do you make fun of?"

"Um . . . blondes," I said. "We make jokes about blondes."

I didn't tell my two brilliant polyglot companions that we Americans-who are rarely familiar with more than one language and, frankly, have never read the instruction manual on the one we do have and have long since invalidated the warranty through gross misuse and negligence-have a bizarre affection for jokes about how Polish people are stupid.

Being totally unfairly characterized as dimwits by far dimmer Americans is the least of Poles' worries though. The centuries of invasion, conquest and mistreatment endured by Poland is truly monumental, and Michener illustrates this sad and bloody legacy wonderfully. I kept turning the pages, late into the night, as hordes of more bellicose peoples overran them from the south, north, east and west. Turks, vikings, Teutonic knights, Nazis, Russians. The waves of invaders kept coming, generation after generation.

As tragically fascinating as this history is, I might not have stuck with it were it not presented in the context of a consistent, richly evoked story. Writing a historical novel that spans generations is a tough trick. One can only develop any single character over the course of small section of the book, and by the next chapter he's been worm food for a century. But Michener manages to develop the nation of Poland itself as a single character. A spunky, lovable indefatigable rebel who refuses to be defeated, and who, incidentally, would have absolutely no problem whatsoever screwing in a light bulb all by herself.

[Bodosika Bodosika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more less the history of Poland and the Polish people and their neighbor and it was well written by the author hence no dull moment... The author is a Genius hence I gave it to 4 Star.

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! Being of Polish heritage I found this book to be especially good. I would recommend this one.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the overarching themes in this barely fictionalized historical account of Poland is:

A Pole is a man born with a sword in one hand and a brick in the other. When the fighting is over, he rebuilds.

The other main theme is that Poland might disappear under a foreign power or be completely dissolved for a while but it always comes back. The book takes you through a time machine as we move from the 1200’s and the Tatar ravages through the various assaults from East/West/North and South by Swedes, Germans, Turks, Russians, etc. You also get a smattering of cultural history of art, music, architecture, etc along the way. History is told through the eyes of the “nobles”, gentry and serfs, following fictional families as they interact with real figures and events from Polish history. Fascinating from end to end.

The last part of the book covers the Nazi invasion of Poland and atrocities inflicted. The first thing in the main village on the Vistula (central setting for the book’s characters) has the German overseer read a list of “subversive” villagers who are stood up against a wall and shot. When the village is “liberated” by the Soviets, the security services show up shortly after with a list of “subversive” villagers and Polish guerilla fighters, who are taken away and never seen again. Just your basic social justice being meted out.

The book ends with events of the early 1980s, echoing the rise of Solidarnosc and Lech Walensa. Will Poland get out from under her Soviet masters or will she be crushed again? As we know, with a little help from the three Amigos, John Paul II, Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Poland and the rest of the countries behind the Iron Curtain would shortly regain their freedom.
5 Stars for a fascinating look at the history of Eastern Europe, centered on Poland. Still relevant today.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere in the novel, Poland, Michener does have a story to tell. If you dig deep enough it is rich in food for thought. Many parts of this novel are better told in other books that are content to address specific parts of Polish history. Overall, I can recommend Poland, but it is a lot of book to get there.

Michener’s The Source blew through my family taking no excuses. From there I went back to James Michener’s initial grande success, Tales of the South Pacific. After that the tiles came and went leaving ever less mark and by the original publication of Poland, I was not interested. Recent comments among book readers I respect brought me back to Michener and specifically his as usual, horse choker, of a novel, Poland. The amount of research is impressive, except that this is fiction. Mitchener, among others taught me to be very leery about the one (a novel) as a path to the other (history). This is a many-sided problem not likely to be settled in a few statements. My particular problem became that the facts of history were often of sufficiently unlikely that the made-up stories of fiction could be too easily confused. My conclusion then and recommendation now is that readers should learn history from history books and be very careful about what they think they have learned about history from fiction.

It is possible that fiction can help provide a context and some personal connections that history is too dry to attempt. The purpose of a novel is, or should be a matter of being true to its made-up characters and the central problem that is the purpose of the novelist. These are all fine lines and distinctions. There are many logical arguments against the aforesaid, but at bottom all can bow to fiction in a novel. Little can bow to history. Going too far down this path leads to the madness of the Reagan Biography, where the biographer inserted himself into places and created dialogue that had no possible bases in reality. Whatever your take on this question, for me it stopped making sense to learn intentional fiction when the same tome periods were well covered by historians.

Before leaving this point, James A Michener lavished his personal time on the history behind his novels. One can waste time arguing against this or that fact, when the issue, in a novel, has to be the impact and import of the whole.


And so to this novel, Poland. Poland is a classic case the oft published theory that Geography is fate. Poland has no natural boundaries and its history is one of invasions. The local population at any given moment in time had a binary choice. Become good soldiers or become whoever the invade de jour demanded of you. Including what is portrayed as a typically Germanic technique, extinction by forced export and elimination of the native population and replacement with the invader’s people. Russia would do just this with neighboring Estonia. Michener would have us believe that the Germanic Knights started it.

With this as background, Poland takes us through a variety of episodes in selected periods of Polish history. The Poland he would have us understand was one where in a relatively few, super rich and titled barrons would insure that there was never a central government strong enough to threaten their local powers, If this meant that Poland would spend centuries under the ownership of some other national entity, this was no problem, as long as local power stayed with the local magnates. Live for the pheasants was pretty much always the same. Illiterate and depended upon the local lord and never expecting better than dirt floor hovels to call home. Droit du seigneur, the right of the feudal lord to rape almost at will, but especially being first to any village bride on her wedding night is not explicitly discussed. Michener is clear that the Lord could pick who married who and that the serving women expected to be used and made their plans accordingly. For all of this a high point the Poland is the large number of women who would achieve and exercise power on their own or through weaker male husbands.

Initially the episodic nature of Poland meant a parade of people, many who seemed important but who disappeared as soon as that episode was finished. On occasion we would see a character at the peak of their lives and have them re-appear briefly and their end.

Eventually the narrative achieves some period stability long enough for a reader to track some character growth. Mostly people quickly become their adult selves and then victim or vanquished per the duel and dueling dictates of history and the story.

Much of the time I was frustrated at the constant changes. Particularly that change most meant new names doing the old things. In the last third it became possible to be vested in particular characters. Michener is unblinking in his discussion of Poland’s cruel suffering under the rarely discussed Nazi Holocaust. And he is equally distressed with how easily Communist Poland sank into a mirror of its own dark past, if only now in the name of the proletarian rather than the inherited over lords.

[path · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire Michener's approach to research: the immersiveness and broad, interdisciplinary study of history, politics, geography, and culture can create a fully dimensional picture of a place and time. Michener's best works are the product of this research effort and it shines through with vivid portrayals of the landscape, music, cuisine and in people that wear their history and politics in their speech and actions. Poland has some of that but it is not as clear or consistent. The bookend chapters are characters debating issues in a way that literally just tells aspects of Polish history.

Nevertheless, this history of Poland is interesting. The story of early foreign invasion, christianization by force, an unusual system of self-governance, and becoming the eventual focal point of geo-political unrest did move me forward. Throughout, Poland is consistently portrayed as the underdog. Is that an apologist's approach to history? I don't know. I can think of other Michener books that take the same approach to controversial history. But history is complicated. Rarely are there purely good or evil forces driving world events. Instead, there are just various levels of organized motive from the individual level up through governments. And motives are messy and complicated, shot through with good intentions, bad intentions, heroism, cravenness, greed, and altruism. But with a long enough time period to tell a complicated story, through characters that draw us in, an author like Michener can draw a through line and not end up under- or over-correcting the story in one way or another.

In Poland, however, the characters just aren't there to carry the story as well as in other books. The through line is not as clear. There are times that the characters do manage however: some of the Buks and Bukowskis and especially the matrons of those households stand out. By contrast, the Lubonskis are not strong contributors to the story. Neither is the town of Bukowo, invented to be a non-human character in this story. It has history ... or rather it has longevity, but it does not really bear the impression of history or geography that I think it is placed there to do. It's just another flat character.

Despite the criticism, I did often enjoy reading the book. For about 250 pages in the middle I wasn't so sure, but overall, I enjoyed the experience. It wasn't Michener's best but it was solidly alright.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Poland" is written with all the elegance of a bloated instruction manual. If you enjoy the absence of subtext, disastrously bad sentences, and descriptions that make a list of technical specifications read like poetry, you will love Michener's writing. This ain't Zadie Smith, folks. In fact, it's probably one of the worst-written books I've ever slogged through.

Yet. I didn't hate this book. Because while reading page after page was like walking through a post-apocalyptic city in a movie, where beloved buildings lie crumbled and scattered like a sugar cookie on the sidewalk, the HISTORY contained in this book was fascinating. I realize we're talking about a novel here, so I can't take everything that happens in this book and just believe it as fact, but I will anyway. The only way I can process and enjoy what I've just read is to believe that it's 100% accurate as history, and allow me to parrot back plot points as if I have taken a Polish history course. I have already started doing this.

Really, though, this book covers a vast swath of time and does a pretty incredible job of connecting concepts across the centuries. I do feel like I learned a lot, and I actually enjoyed the vast scope. It was just the specifics (like the choice of words, the order in which they were sequenced, and the clanging simplicity of their meaning) where everything got bogged down.

(The lengthy sections set in 1890's Vienna where Michener describes in plodding detail a number of pieces of music -- especially Chopin -- truly made me want to beat myself about the face and neck with this 600+ page brick. It was like reading IBM's Jeopardy-playing supercomputer trying to describe a beautiful sunset. Reading those pages ever again might very well be enough to drive me mad.)

The more important point is: I can now discuss in rudimentary detail seven or eight important periods of Polish history with my in-laws. And for that, I will overlook the catastrophic prose and be forever grateful.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick note to say that this is a quite-readable historical novel - another of the multi-generational efforts by Michener.

My paternal grandparents were both in Poland and moved to the USA around 1910 - this is the likely reason I picked this up about 30 years ago.

I recall only a few things:

- several feasts over the centuries were described in considerable detail - which helped me to understand that the art of cooking is ancient.

- "modern" Poland had a fatal flaw in in parliamentary governance - a single vote could overturn damn near anything - a sure recipe for paralysis.

- a consequence of its geography - combined with that paralysis - was that Poland was repeatedly invaded and often partitioned

- it is a near-certainty that my Polish ancestors were peasants, which helped me to understand the lot of humanity for most of history (and pre-history)

I leave it to others to fill in more details - not really "spoilers", since "giving away" historical/cultural details only bears on the plot and characters in the way that the author intends - which will often be "arbitrary" in order to surprise readers.

POSTSCRIPT

I did some checking. When my Polish grandparents moved to America there was no "Poland" per se. "Poland" was divided between Russia, Austria/Hungary, and Germany with their respective monarchs.

By 1918 all three monarchs were dead or otherwise deposed, and Poland reformed - later to be dominated by Hitler, then Stalin, and Stalin's successors - until 1991 when the Soviet Empire fragmented.

[Davy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous book by this prolific and prominent leftist.
I have some Lithuanian so this book had some fill gap interest for me.
Maternal grandma brought no history or remembrance of Lithuania with her so I have read and met to learn the skinny. Poland factors in.

Highlight was the Polish guy who basically saved Vienna from the Turkish siege. You know him, they named a vodka after him.
I stumbled onto the State of Texas Polish Convention in nearby New Waverly Texas a few months ago [a gem hidden about 50 miles north of downtown Houston off I-45]. Fine Catholic Church set up in the 1800's. Czechs and Germans get most of the street cred down here. Go see the old wooden churches at Schulenberg TX perhaps. Or Texas Hill Country treasures like New Braunfels and Fredricksburg. I meander, sorry.
Polonia Restaurant on the west side of Houston and the yearly festival is prominent here for things Polish. LACH group is about all the Lithuanian you get. Did learn a whole lot there via WOM.

[Teri-K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first "real Michener" - one of the long, serious books that covers centuries in an area's history. At first I thought I would love it, then around the half way point it bogged so much I wondered if I could finish. It picked up in the second half, but I still struggled in some sections. One problem I had is that Poland's history is frankly depressing. Apparently they were continually attacked by outsiders while suffering from poor leadership within. Frankly if Michener had invented Poland's politics I would have thought it ridiculous. What kind of country insists on electing only foreigners for kings? Who thinks giving any one man in Parliament a total veto is a good idea? Still, these features pale compared to the constant destruction of the country by its neighbors.

As for the writing, the people and place names required that I really pay attention. Yet, as soon as I figured out who was who the author would jump back to someone's grandfather and tell me all about them, leaving the earlier story hanging for many pages. That coupled with the fact that the dialogue was more speeches than conversation made this book very heavy going.

Still, there's a lot of fascinating history and some good story telling in this book, if the reader can persist. 2.5 stars

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I deeply love this country I’ve never seen, and Michener’s writing has given shape to that love. The history, geography, art, music, and people of Poland have all become dear to me over the course of this lengthy read. I would read this book again and again if I had the time.

[Armin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicht schlecht, aber nicht vom Meister

Das ist kein Jim Beam!, der Inhalt des Glases mit dem falschen Stoff fließt auf den Saloon-Boden. So oder so ähnlich verlief Mitte der Neunziger die Werbung für einen mittelprächtigen Bourbon, der nicht mal in diesem Preissegment die absolute Spitze darstellt.
Dass der allergrößte Teil dieses Buches nicht auf das Konto des Autors auf dem Umschlag geht, stört mich gar nicht mal so sehr, eine weibliche Perspektive erschließt andere Reize in der polnischen Kultur und geht ganz anders mit den Qualitäten der bedeutenden Menschen in der Historie um.
Gerade die häuslichen Kapitel wie das Idyll mit den Tieren auf Burg Gorka und die ausführliche Schilderungen der kulinarischen Anstrengungen vor einer Magnaten-Hochzeit verfügen durchaus über Qualitäten, die in anderen Michener-Romanen fehlen. Auch Kapitel 6-8, in denen die Beschränktheit der Bukowski-Männer, so lange sie nicht gerade auf einem Pferd sitzen, doch ziemlich treffend aufgezeigt wird, hat etwas für sich.
Nimmt man echte Macho-Kapitel aus früheren Büchern wie Colorado-Saga, Die Bucht oder auch das später entstandene Texas als Maßstab, dann fehlt in Mazurka eine gewisse körperliche Präsenz wie beim Rinderauftrieb, den Regatten der Wassermenschen oder den Ranger-Missionen eines Otto McNab. Die Schlachtbeschreibungen in Mazurka sind zweidimensional, analytisch, durchaus mit Sinn für die Details der asymetrischen Kriegsführung und die Schicksale der Frauen, aber überhaupt nicht so physisch wie die Vorgänge in den oben erwähnten Vergleichsgrößen.
Da viele thematische Zusammenhänge, auch in Sachen nationale Befindlichkeiten oder über die Jahrhunderte gewachsene Empfindlichlichkeiten schlüssig erklärt wurden, war ich in Kapitel 7 und 8 trotzdem noch im Zweifel, ob 4 oder 5 Sterne gerechtfertigt wären, die die Kapitel über die österreichische Periode und die unmittelbare Nachkriegszeit waren eine gute Ergänzung zu Joseph Roth.
Dann kam das vorletzte Kapitel über die deutsche Besatzung Polens im zweiten Weltkrieg inklusive Vernichtungslager. Das literarische Niveau sank eher auf das Niveau von Herman Wouks Feuersturm-Trilogie oder auch leicht drunter, allerdings gab es schon früh seltsame Asynchronität zum Kriegsverlauf. Natürlich können Menschen im Propagandanebel nicht alles wie Historiker zuordnen, die Erfahrung macht man auch noch heutzutage geradezu stündlich. Aber dann kamen derart plumpe Grundpatzer bei den harten Fakten im NS-Besatzungskapitel, z.B. Stalingrad im März 42 als die Wehrmacht noch ihre Wunden von Moskau 41 leckte und der gesamte V2-Komplex wäre einem historisch versierten Mann nie im Leben unterlaufen, geschweige denn einem Michener. Luftmarschall Göring hatte nichts damit zu tun, Raketen waren eine Heeresentwicklung und die Dinger waren so spät einsatzfähig, dass beim Warschauer Aufstand schon 1 Monat um war.
Dergleichen harte Fakten, die sich mittels eines Blick ins die oberflächlichste Darstellung überprüfen lassen, hätte jeder Laie ermitteln können und vermutlich auch jeder Mann mit entsprechenden Interessen nicht unterlassen. Vor allem stellten diese Patzer die Wahrhaftigkeit der vorherigen Kapitel in Frage.
Dem Meister hätte ich wiederum das letzte Kapitel zugeschrieben, das etliche frühere Finales durchaus übertrifft, aber vielleicht sind gerade die weichen, zwischenmenschlichen Fakten die Stärke von Micheners Frau, der ein GR-Thread die Autorschaft zuschreibt: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/7...

Für Kapitel 9 gibt es einen Stern oder einen Stern Abzug, von daher drei Sterne. Trotzdem lesenswert, wenn mal viel über das historische Polen dazu lernen will oder einen günstigen Einstiegspunkt sucht. Mazurka ist zwar nur von der Grundstruktur ein Michener und auf den ersten Blick so wenig vom Original zu unterscheiden wie Jim Beam von einem anderen Bourbon gleichen Zuschnitts, aber Gründe zum Ausspucken gibt es nur bei Kapitel 9, das ist wirklich grottenschlecht, weil die Autorin sich ihrer gerechten Sache allzu sicher war, um die einfachsten Fakten nachzuschlagen.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 15th book I have read by this master of historical fiction. Though it has been on my shelves for many years I read it at this time because I had two other novels coming up written by Polish authors. I became interested in the country and its authors through a member of The Tinies reading group who is of Polish descent and has visited there several times. I wanted to learn more.

Michener begins: "In a small Polish farm community during the fall planting season of 1981, events occurred which electrified the world, sending reverberations of magnitude to capitals as diverse as Washington, Peking and especially Moscow." Who knew?

In 1981, Poland was still under Soviet Communist rule. The farmers of that small community sent a representative to meet with Communist officials proposing a farmers union in order to better their economic status. They were denied but the meeting was a turning point in Poland's fight to free themselves the Soviet Union.

In Chapter 2, the story jumps back to 1200 AD in the times of Genghis Khan and proceeds forward, following members of three families and their descendants to show how Poland reached that 20th century crisis. It is a tale of Nobles, Kings, Clergy, merchants, Jews, small land holders and peasants.

Once a vast land, areas of Poland have been carved away over time by the barbarian Tartars, Russia, the Austro Hungarian Empire, and Germany. The propensity of their Nobles to hang on to their lands, castles and riches plays out in relation to what amounted to slavery among the peasants, or serfs as they were then called. For centuries self-interested interactions between the Nobles and surrounding hostile nations led to wars and lack of a strong government for Poland.

Such a tempestuous journey from Medieval to modern times makes for absorbing reading. Wars and battles, victories and losses, bravery and love of country, artist and musicians (Chopin), a majestic landscape of rivers, mountains and forests. Always the backbreaking work of serfs to keep the population fed and served and to provide cannon fodder for the wars.

Because the novel was published in 1983, plenty has happened for Poland since. The current government has been free of the Soviet Union for several decades now but is right wing and conservative. I looked up some of the history of those decades. Though the country is more sound economically, a strong Catholic presence and the tone of the government impacts women's rights and the freedoms of writers.

It is good to have the long range picture, including the horrors of WWII, the Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet influence after that war, and the ongoing conflicts between Christians and Jews in Poland. In fact, it is difficult to understand the current news about any country so foreign to Americans. Michener's book filled in the gaps in my knowledge and was well worth spending a week to read.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I'll go against the grain and say that this book was awful. Best-selling book of 1983? Yikes.

It spans 800 years of history, which is ambitious to say the least, and I feel like Michener just couldn't pull it off.

It felt like he wanted to tell the history of Poland without actually referencing, you know, sources, so he made it fiction and created a fictional area on the Vistula so he really didn't have to be accurate at all.

Even that would have been fine if it were overpowered by fantastic, compelling characters, but the character development was nearly nonexistent. I think I maybe cared about three of them. In fact, I cared so little about the characters that I was actually glad when a few were executed just so I wouldn't have to read their storylines anymore.

The only saving grace of this book - and the reason it got a second star - is that it did in fact give a good overview of Polish history. How accurate? I don't know - but I feel like I have a better understanding of the place now.

But I'd rather have read an actual history book, which is sad since historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and I liked other books that attempt the same - notably Paris by Edward Rutherford which, despite its flaws, was a far more enjoyable read than this one.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

Poland by James A. Michener was his ninth work that I read, and as always his writing style kept me glued to the text. However, amongst his four epic works of historical fictions that I have read so far, this one although pretty interesting, I would keep it at the bottom of my personal favourite list, right under Hawaii, while having his Alaska at the second position, and the best being The Source.

The book is divided into nine parts:

1. The book starts and ends with agricultural problems in communist Poland of around the late 1970s. The dilemmas faced by different Polish people is exhibited in these two chapters: the ones who wanted to have a democratic Poland; and the ones who wanted a socialist Poland and believed that the Soviet Union can lead them into the right direction. (4-stars)

2. FROM THE EAST: (5-stars) The Tatar (Mongolian) attacks from the East in the early part of the 13th century, is well described, this being one of the darkest times in Polish history. Of how the Tatars had come along as riding-raiders and pillaged towns across the region, without any remorse. The only thing they learnt from the Polish people was the concept of a city, an orderly collection of human beings who could accomplish results that a horde of wandering individuals never could. And as they remembered Krakow, they established Karakorum.

3. FROM THE WEST: (5-stars) In the late 14th century, Poland is invaded and occupied by the Order of the Teutonic Knights from the West (Germany). However, at the Battle of Grunwald, the combined Polish-Lithuanian army having defeated the Teutonic Knights, laid the groundwork for the decline of the Order. This battle is very well presented.

4. FROM THE NORTH: (5-stars) Depicting the Swedish ravaging invasion of Poland from the North during the reign of the Polish King Jan Kazimir, in the 17th century.

5. FROM THE SOUTH: (5-stars) Being invaded by the Ottoman Empire from the South during the late 17th century, Poland fights back to protect itself and all of Western Europe, at the Battle of Vienna. Even though it is an act of violent descriptions, these were wonderful to read and know.

6. THE GOLDEN FREEDOM: (4-stars) This chapter included description of life and politics in the 18th century, under what was called as "The Golden Freedom", wherein the Sejm (the Polish parliament), which the king was required to hold every two years, was elected by all nobles, while ignoring the majority peasants. The liberum veto ("by which one man in a Seym of hundreds could negate and prorogue the entire work of the Seym by merely crying 'I oppose!'") is also very well described, being a major cause of Poland's partitioning and eventually its disappearance from the map of Europe for more than a hundred years. The liberum veto was "defended as the last refuge upon which a free man (the magnate or his henchman) could rely to defend his freedom."

7. MAZURKA: (4-stars) This chapter describes life in Vienna, at the end of the 19th century, at the height of the Habsburg monarchy, discussing the life of Polish exiles during the country's partition period. Description of Polish culture through its language, visual arts and music is shown, exhibiting the fact that despite the absence of the country, politically, people still loved and retained their beloved Polish culture.

8. SHATTERED DREAMS: (4-stars) Taking place during the first quarter of the 20th century after the reconstitution of Poland, the Polish-Russian Battle of Zamosc (Battle of Komarow, as per the Russians) is described and stressed upon, in which the Poles had won.

9. THE TERROR: (5-stars) This chapter begins with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed by the life of Poles during its occupation, and much later by Soviet occupation. The Holocaust is a big part of the chapter, although the Jews while being kept in the background, more focus was laid upon the ways in which the Poles were treated by the Nazis. This provided me with a perspective I did not yet know much about. The Polish resistance movement in the forests are also a big part of the scenes in this chapter.

Overall, I loved and enjoyed reading the book, just like any another Michener novel. Michener's writing style is what keeps it going, and along with it his thorough research and depiction of historical facts. Prior to the reading of this book, personally I did not know anything about Polish history, excepting at the times of the Second World War. But this book did provide me with some astonishing and interesting knowledge about Polish history covering the span of its last eight hundred years. Very intriguing indeed!!

[Thomas Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a bestseller, the 1984 Corgi edition of this novel retailed at NZ$9.95. I found this gem in a second-hand book sale for NZ$3. It would have been worth full price if it had been sold as a current bestseller.
The copy I now hold belonged at some stage to one L. de Groot. It’s a book I’ll add to my hoard because even though I may never read it again, I treasure it.
I read a few of Michener’s sagas many years ago and he is the master of blending fact and fiction in fascinating stories. In a miniscule way, by comparison, I’m providing a little snapshot of the history of NZ’s Campbell Island in my next novel “Island of Regrets”.
That aside, I had to recommend “Poland” to readers, who have not yet discovered it, as a great read that will keep you enthralled from start to finish.
With such a history, it is amazing that any Poles survived let alone, as the book blurb says, with an “unconquered heart”. The novel “reveals this spirit in all its drama and tragedy”. The novel is rightly described in the blurb as “spectacular” and few novels better justify that tag.
In the first external examination I ever took as a young person I failed in the subject “history” but, after reading Michener, the essence of Poland’s history is imprinted in my brain.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Mr. Michener, (posthumously), for a Good Read

This book was a strong reading experience for me. Other reviewers have eliminated the need for me to say more on what was told in the book. I will just make a comment or two. I am an outsider looking in on the Polish experience as told through Mr. Michener's eyes, but I feel like a voyeur in doing so. For certain I know that looking at a living map of Poland dating from the eleventh century to 1981 is like playing with a kaleidoscope because the country has been partitioned so many times by non-nationals. Through the centuries, invaders have come from all directions and many have left taking a part of Poland with them. Where does the Polish experience stand today? Is it settled and set in stone thus allowing the people to continue to 'rebuild!' trusting that some outside force will not swoop in and tear it down, again?

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Poland" gets a DNF. I read a few of Michener's books ages a go. "Hawaii", "Centennial", "Chesapeake". Was there a book called "Space" that involved a mission to the dark side of the moon? Anyway, I remember liking them. Then for some reason I stopped reading his books. So I picked up "Poland" on Kindle for the low, low price of $2.99. And then I remembered why I stopped reading him. His books are deadly dull. But at least they're long. Anyway, you get what you pay for. I think I read just about enough to recoup my $2.99. I see Kindle has a bunch of other Michener snoozers with names like "Iberia", "Mexico", and "Caribbean". If I ever see these books on Kindle for the low, low price of $2.99 treat me like I was Lon Chaney, Jr. playing the Wolf Man: LOCK ME IN MY ROOM! AND NO MATTER WHAT YOU HEAR INSIDE, DO NOT GIVE ME MY KINDLE!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good and entertaining history of Poland.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michener’s Poland: A Novel is primarily about three families in nine different ages. It was written during the height of the Solidarity movement in Poland and uses a fictional, but quite representative, conflict between Polish union organizers and Communist sympathizers as the bookends between which the rest of the historical fiction is racked. Even the struggle between the two families involved in the bookend conflict serves as framing for the conflicts within the book. It is not only epic in that it covers the history of a beautiful land from the 13th century to the 20th, but it is epic in that the historical lessons and comparisons in the early part of the book function as streams running into a great river of missed potential at the conclusion. Michener presents Poland as vulnerable, the Polish people as courageous and noble, and the political consequences of the combination as representing one missed opportunity after another. Yet, somehow, the land itself experiences resurrection as surely as that singular Resurrection in which their resilient Catholic faith continues to thrive (at least, when I visited Poland a few years ago, the Catholic churches were packed and I found the mass moving even though I only understood a few words in Polish and part of the Latin).

Still, one needs a disclaimer about my inherent and very subjective bias with regard to epics. I like to have a character with which I can identify and empathize. It isn’t easy for me to transfer this virtual loyalty from one family member to another. Families, even my own, evolve so that children don’t have the same attitudes and values of the parents even as the parents try to inculcate such values. Michener’s families are no different. Sons are not as noble or strong as their fathers. Wives transfer their allegiance from one family or homeland to another. The transfer of leadership, power, and wealth is not always smooth or certain. Michener captures this realistically, depicting life as it is but failing to satisfy my desire that the protagonist triumph over each obstacle. So, in reading my remarks, bear in mind that I prefer uplifting results (I think I can tell you that the results of each era are a mixed bag without providing a spoiler) to equilibrium or tragedy. So, there were times I was thrilled with this epic and times when I was disappointed (or maybe even devastated). You’ll have to decide for yourself whether that is just me or if the book is missing some human ingredient binding these disparate stories together (other than obvious genetics within the families).

The first four eras demonstrate how Poland was constantly under threat from four geographical areas, even titled after the four cardinal directions. So, after the bookend of the more modern struggle is placed, the first era covered is the 13th century and first threat is from the east. I wanted to resonate with the tales of the Tatar invasion and the Battle of Legnica (which I had simulated more than once in GMT’s The Devil’s Horsemen game), but the battle scenes were almost an anticlimax to the section. Henry the Pious was treated as a cardboard character, almost as cardboard as his counter in my war game. But I kept reading because I could see the author was setting up something else.

The second era covered the threat from the west and the age-old premise for conquest. It starts in the 14th century and segues into the 15th to describe Poland’s enemies from the west (the once aligned, Teutonic Knights) who claimed the Polish people were unable to protect themselves. Under the guise of taking over territory for Poland’s own good, the Teutonic Knights began to muscle their way in and it took heroic efforts to reverse the trend. The good news is that the account of the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) was extremely interesting but it seemed to this reader that the families through which the book was woven together had taken an extreme back seat to these historic events—although the battle scenes do demonstrate that Michener wasn’t afraid to kill off named characters as some authors hesitate to do.

The third era covered the threat from the north. The 17th century section dealt with the Polish tradition of selecting a king from another nation in order to avoid having a dynasty and the resulting threat from a coalition of Sweden and Transylvania. Though some important points were covered and the descriptions of 17th century rural life were vivid, I felt like I was sleepwalking through most of this section.

Naturally, the fourth era covered the threat from the south. Perhaps, the threat from Kara Mustafa and the Turks was the frightening and devastating since the Tatar invasion of the 13th century. The late 17th century proved to be a marvelous backdrop for the heroic defense and relief of Vienna and Michener masterfully uses this stage to set the foundation for other events.

Most specifically, the book now segues into the partitioning of Poland between Austrian, Prussian and Russian control. The differences in culture and polity are explored and here, some of the family members become much more than cardboard. Motivations and aspirations (only vaguely assumed prior to this point in the book) are explored in juxtaposition with other ideas and aspirations. It is at this point and later, during the Nazi era that the book assumes its greatest humanity. We almost hear the incredible music of both Austria and Poland in the Viennese music scene and the conflicting styles of Mozart versus Chopin (if you will) reflect the conflict between ideas of governance and civilization. I also found myself caught up in the search for “proper” wives during this section of the book.
By far the most humanly compelling, however, were the accounts of resistance and survival during the period of Nazi occupation. Having read autobiographical accounts of such experiences (most notably that of Corrie ten Boom, Viktor Frankl, and the semi-autobiographical Night by Elie Wiesel), these sections rang very true. I particularly resonated with one prisoner’s mental resilience and Michener let us visit the mental gymnastics necessary to stay alive in such a situation during that struggle. I also enjoyed the accounts of the partisans or Stork Commandoes (very vivid symbol considering my visits to Belarus—portions of which were once Poland – and seeing those ungainly birds fly). For me, though, the entire book could have been dedicated to the partisans and I wouldn’t have minded.

Finally, the book considers the disintegration of the doctrinaire Communist system. The book leaves one with the idea that there is unfinished work to be done in Poland, but it, of course, stops short of Poland’s eventual triumph and the entry of the country into the European Union. If I didn’t know the real history behind the fiction, I would be most frustrated with the conclusion of the novel. Yet, I found that I could smile smugly and think to myself that the majestic country won.

For me, one of the most memorable lines in the book was when the U.S. expatriate and daughter of the railroad and real estate magnate looked out the window of her palace and “…she saw for the first time that in a human life there were many ruins which remained, giving the landscape meaning, and that like the great river, life flowed on, coming out of the mountains, seeking the ocean of which it was a part. And everything one did entailed the creation of ruins and involved one in the implacable movement of the ongoing river.” (p. 379) I also loved this pithy line: “Never try to correct a national situation by a foolish personal act.” (p. 422)

Would I have chosen this book if I hadn’t visited Poland and Belarus? I probably wouldn’t have. I’m not a fan of Michener’s work because the strokes are generally too broad to give me a cathartic vision of human possibility. In this case, though, the journey was well worth it. Not only did it put my own experiences in perspective, but it helped me relive an amazing experience as I observed this virtual experience.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

James A. Michener's historical fiction, "Poland", is remarkable. It dives into the heart of the country - its people, culture, art, music, landscape, traditions, rituals - in such a way as to enkindle in the reader a love for the country.

Michener paints a thorough picture of the events that have shaped Poland, and clearly establishes the boundaries between history and fiction before the novel begins. A thousand years of history are cleverly presented through tracing families through their generations, which adds to the reader's understanding of the depth of Poland's history.

The novel sparks the imagination, and ignites an insatiable desire to discover Poland's heroic greatness - the heroism that its beloved pianist, Frederic Chopin, achieved in his nationalistic music.

This historical fiction is also significant for the bits of wisdom about the unfolding of history and about the shaping of character.

The events in the novel are detailed, and often technical, and yet continue to hold interest and build momentum.

A great book!

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give up - I can't do it. This book is dreadful. I love historical fiction, and all I wanted was some good fictional characters to hook me into a very general overview of Polish history. I have Polish heritage and I visited the country 3 years ago, so I have a strong interest in the subject matter. This book failed to deliver in so many ways.

These characters are barely even 2-dimensional; they speak nothing but stilted expositionese; they are not memorable or distinguishable from one another by anything even vaguely resembling personality; since I put it down a couple of weeks ago I struggle to name even one.

The style, such as it is, is confusing. Sometimes it behaves like a history book, sometimes it lectures you about politics or political philosophy, sometimes the 'characters' lecture each other, and at others it weirdly drops into theatre dialogue. It is clunky and so very hard to read.

The only thing I appreciated was the page or so of notes at the beginning that indicated which characters or events were fictional.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An epic historical novel that encompasses Poland as the battleground of Europe from the Mongol Invasions of the 13th century to the soviet backed Polish People's Republic in the 20th century. Michener includes aspects of Polish culture including pierogies, the mazurka and the horsemanship of the landed elites. Michener places three fictional families at the centre of events, the aristocratic Lubonskis, the petty gentry Bukowskis and the peasant Buks. In the early chapters, the different generations of each family remain relatively unchanging but the characters come into focus in the late 19th century as the Buks discover an opportunity to become small landowners themselves then all of the family experience the horrors of the Second World War. I disagreed with a few of the narrator's statements, including an exceptionally negative assessment of Empress Elizabeth of Austria, but otherwise enjoyed the novel.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW ! ! ! I haven't read a Michener novel in years but he still delivers the goods for me. Virtually all I know about the histories of Hawaai, South Africa, Afghanistan, and now, Poland I learned reading Michener. I even learned things I didn't know about the history of my home state of Texas from reading his novel, "Texas." "Poland" covers the history of Poland from the the 13th century to the 1980s. I had no idea of the adversity faced by Poland down through the years. It's borders changed several times, usually as a result of military conflicts and the power grabbing of Germany, Russia, Austria and others. In fact, by the end of the 18th century there was no Poland. The book is not perfect, in my opinion, as I marked it down from five stars. It was slow in places and, at 600 plus pages, over long. But, if you are an experienced skimmer I heartily recommend it.