Solid history of the Polish nation. This book was published in 1988 - I bet the author wishes he waited 2 more years or even 1995 when the country was largely recovered from its economic liberalization.
There is an excellent pronunciation guide near the front which is a great help in pronouncing what appear to be tongue twisters in English. I spent an inordinate amount of time correctly pronouncing each proper name.
As an American, we tend to focus on Western European history and Poland unfortunately gets lost between Germany and Russia despite being a united nation far longer than either of those 2 entities. One finds sparks of brilliance that Poland contributed to Europe in the histories and people might eventually conclude "woah there is a black hole in European history."

Who were these powerful Poles who rescued Vienna? How did a non entity field this force? Who were these Guardsmen in Napoleon's Grande Army? Why do I keep reading about detachments of Polish forces in all these engagements all over Europe through the centuries? Why are they serving everywhere? Why are they so highly regarded by contemporaries? What about Poland produced high quality forces? What's this about a Constitution? Why were so many Jews in Poland from the Middle Ages to the modern era? Why did Catherine set up the Pale of Settlement? Why did Ukrainians have such animosity toward Jews?

To be honest, European history cannot be understood without understanding Poland's place. ( )

Good read. Poland's history is a lot like Hungary's in that it seems it's been determined by great(er) powers adjacent to its territory and its inability to defend itself or set a clear path of (national) self-determination. Hungary has had the Ottoman Empire, Austria, Germany, Romania and the Soviet Union to contend with. Poland: Germany, Austria, Prussia, Russia and the Soviets. The book's a good window into central European history.