A substantially revised and updated edition of the author's classic 1987 book, 'The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and their Culture', which has been out of print since 2001. When Adam Zamoyski first wrote his history of Poland, in the 1980s, the country was in a state of subjugation, its living culture largely surviving only underground or in exile. Although the election of Karol Wojty?a as Pope John Paul II and the dramatic rise of Solidarno?? had brought Poland into the world's consciousness, it was not until the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989 that it returned to life as a political entity. No nation's history has been so distorted as that of Poland. In 1797 Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the country up among themselves, rewriting history to give the impression that Poland had never been a fully sovereign state, only a backwater that needed civilising. In fact the country they had wiped off the map had been one of the largest and most richly varied in Europe, embracing a wide variety of cultural and religious traditions, accommodated within one of the boldest constitutional experiments ever attempted. Its destruction initiated a series of struggles that culminated in the two world wars and the Cold War. Today, after the turmoil of the past two centuries, Poland has been restored to its rightful place as one of the most homogeneous and vigorous nations of Europe. Adam Zamoyski's full revision of his classic history is perfectly timed.

◎ 著者简介

亚当·扎莫伊斯基，波兰裔英国历史学家与作家。曾就读于英国牛津大学女王学院，于1974年获得荣誉硕士学位。主要研究方向为欧洲历史与文化，著有《肖邦传》《莫斯科1812》《华沙1920》等书。

◎ 译者简介

郭大成，毕业于北京航空航天大学，工程师，现从事科研项目管理工作。