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Review
aDavies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance.a ("The New York Review of Books")
John Crossland, Sunday Times, 2 November 2003
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Norman Davis approaches the Rising from many angles: political and military, national and international, collective and individual. The author presents many a detail unknown or vaguely realized even by Poles, and explains how the Rising spawned persistent myths, both negative and heroic.
He does it all in an immensly readable style and innovative form, known from his previous work, inserting "asides" into the exhaustively researched and coherent narrative, free-standing testimonies by individual participants from all sides to illustrate their personal experience of the Rising and its aftermath, which he extends up to our own times.
Perhaps it may be too much to expect that Rising '44 should become a world bestseller, illuminating the subject for all and once for all, although the book certainly deserves it. But at least from now on there will be no excuse for those who pronounce on the subject, in or outside Poland, to misconstrue the facts and perpetuate ideologically-based misconceptions.
It would be petty to point out insignificant and inconsequential errors and omissions (very few and far between). However, one might question the stylistic device of weeding out and translating ALL but a handful of Polish personal and place-names. The author explains, feasibly, that he aimed to spare his global readership the confusion of exotic Polish spellings, but, perhaps, that has been taken a name too far.
This reservation does not detract, though, from the immense achievement of the best among contemporary historians writing on Polish affairs, and that includes Poles as well.
In part one, Norman Davies does an in-depth study of the history leading up to the rising. He thoroughly discusses all the political factions and their various aims and political manoeuvrings. Following this network can be a bit confusing but Norman Davies manages to explain the complexity of the matter in readable style. His naming Poland as "The First Ally" in the first part of the book does become a bit tedious but I suppose he does it to remind his western audience of the fact.
The Rising is similarly accounted in detail. It was sold out by Russian opposition to the whole undertaking and American indifference. It would appear that the Rising and ultimately Poland was sacrificed over the larger picture of winning the war against Nazi Germany with the Allies cuddling the Russian bear, sometimes, to extremes.
Part three deals with the aftermath. Having opposed the Rising in the first place the Stalin-installed Polish Government went after the survivors of the Rising. To me personally this is the most tragic part of the book. Instead of receiving gratitude and honour for rising against the oppressor, there is only the torture chamber and prison. The people who staged the Rising have only really come into their own since communism fell in 1989.
I like Norman Davies' use of capsules. When you read the book you will do yourself a favour if you read the capsules as you progress through the book. They provide the emotional companion to the narrative.
I don't mind that Norman Davies uses English abbreviations instead of the original Polish names, but I prefer it that way due to my lack of knowing the Polish language.
Norman Davies' work properly recounts the Warsaw rising for the first time. His book is destined to be come the standard volume on the subject. You won't find any better.
This book is amazing and the style in which it is written - wow! Read more
Listmania!
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