• Is Poland a “historical” or an “unhistorical” nation?

• What is the dominant narrative of the Polish national past?

• How did Polish society react to the failed uprising of 1863?

• Who were perceived as the most important enemies of the Polish nation?

 

Essential Reading

Wandycz, Piotr S., ‘Historiography of the Countries of Eastern Europe: Poland’, American Historical Review, 97 (1992), pp. 1011-1025.

Davies, Norman, Heart of Europe. The Past in Poland’s Present, New Edition, (Oxford, 2001), pp. 138-311 [= Chapter 4: ‘The Legacy of Spiritual Mastery, Poland During the Partitions 1795-1918’, Chapter 5: ‘The Legacy of an Ancient Culture: Poland before 1795’].

Additional Reading

Halecki, Oskar, Problems of Polish Historiography, Slavonic and East European Review, American Series, 2 (1943), pp. 223-239