''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 a ...
, 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 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, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...
). 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.
...
'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 (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, 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 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