''God's Playground: A History of Poland'' is a history book in two volumes written by

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor at ...

, covering a 1000-year

history of Poland The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy; through Poland's Golden Age, expansionism and becoming one of the largest European powers; to its collapse and partitions, two world wars, ...

. Volume 1: ''The origins to 1795'', and Volume 2: ''1795 to the present'' first appeared as the

Oxford Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

publication in 1981 and have since been reprinted in multiple times, and translated into Polish as ''Boże igrzysko : Historia Polski'' by Elżbieta Tabakowska (2 volumes in 1, with 1183 pages by Znak Publishers of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

). Davies was inspired to the title by

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. Li ...

's 1580s poem ''Boże igrzysko'' ("Mankind: Bauble of the Gods"). The book, which most editions split into two volumes, has received favourable reviews in the international press, and is considered by many historians"This is a remarkable book... this is a major work that is imaginative, thought-provoking and extremely well written".--

Piotr S. Wandycz Piotr Stefan Wandycz (September 20, 1923 – July 29, 2017) was a Polish-American historian. He was also the President of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, and professor emeritus at Yale University, specializing in Eastern a ...

, review in The American Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Apr. 1983), pp. 436-437
JSTOR
br> L. R. Lewitter, review in The Historical Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec. 1983), pp. 1032-103
JSTOR

Anna M. Cienciala Anna Maria Cienciala (November 8, 1929 – December 24, 2014) was a Polish-American historian and author. She specialized in modern Polish and Russian history. Graduating with a history doctorate in 1962, she taught at two Canadian universities f ...

, review in the Slavic Review, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 510-512
JSTOR
/ref> and other scholars to be one of the best English-language books on the subject of the history of Poland. The author received several Polish honours.

Selected editions

;English: * ''God's Playground'', Columbia University Press, 1979 * ''God's Playground'', Oxford University Press, 1981, (vol. 1), (vol. 2) * ''God's Playground'', Columbia University Press, 1982, (vol. 1) and (vol. 2) * ''God's Playground'', Columbia University Press, 1983 * ''God's Playground'', Oxford University Press, 1983, (vol. 2) * ''God's Playground'', Columbia University Press, 1984, (vol.1), (vol. 2) * ''God's Playground'', Oxford University Press, 2005, (vol. 1) and (vol. 2) * ''God's Playground'', Columbia University Press, 2005, (vol. 1), (vol. 2) ;Polish: * ''Boże igrzysko'',

bibuła Polish underground press, devoted to prohibited materials ( sl. pl, bibuła, lit. semitransparent blotting paper or, alternatively, pl, drugi obieg, lit. second circulation), has a long history of combatting censorship of oppressive regimes in ...

edition in the 1980s * ''Boże igrzysko'', ZNAK 1989, * ''Boże igrzysko'', ZNAK 1994, * ''Boże igrzysko'', ZNAK 1999 * ''Boże igrzysko'', ZNAK 2006,

Notes

External links

Google Books online preview
{{Norman Davies 1979 non-fiction books Books by Norman Davies History books about Poland 20th-century history books English-language books