''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 British and 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 Profes ...

, covering a 1000-year

history of Poland The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from Lechites, medieval tribes, Christianization of Poland, Christianization and Kingdom of Poland, monarchy; through Polish Golden Age, Poland's Golden Age, Polonization, expansionism and be ...

. Volume 1: ''The origins to 1795'', and Volume 2: ''1795 to the present'' first appeared as the Oxford Clarendon Press 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 , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

). Davies was inspired to the title by

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before ...

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

Anna M. Cienciala, review in the Slavic Review, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 510-512
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/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 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
* An edition is available at archive.org. {{Use British English, date=January 2025 1979 non-fiction books Books by Norman Davies History books about Poland 20th-century history books English-language non-fiction books Columbia University Press books