Opening the “Iron Curtain”

There are some things that Poles have always known, but Western readers are only now finding out. Anne Applebaum’s book, Iron Curtain, suggests Piotr Wróbel, makes people think and ask questions. About time.

Quo Vadis, Wisława?

Where is Szymborska going?

Benjamin Paloff suggests that she is, in fact, staying; she has a lasting place in our literature, her poems have that special quality that enables them to unfold into variations of themselves.

Freedom Climbers

Patrice Dabrowski reviews Bernadette McDonald’s gripping and heart-wrenching chronicle of the greatest Himalayan climbers of the 20th century. Winner of the American Alpine Association’s Literary Award, the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival, and Britain’s Boardman Tasker Prize.

The Idea of Galicia: History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture

Larry Wolff’s rich and engaging tale about Galicia and its four ethnic groups – Poles, Austrian Germans, Ruthenians and Jews – all of whom assigned a different meaning to the “idea” of Galicia. Reviewed by Lukasz Wodzynski.

Chopin: Prince of the Romantics

Historian Adam Zamoyski has updated his biography of Chopin, giving us a comprehensive portrait of the composer, the man, the patriot, and the lover. At once scholarly and sensitive.

The Winter Palace

Award-winning author Eva Stachniak’s dazzles with a tale of intrigue, ambition, spying, treachery, flattery, conflict and fear in St. Peterburg’s Winter Palace.

Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America

Helena Modjeska, a great 19th century Polish actress who came to the US at age 30, learned enough English in six months to play Ophelia, except for the mad scene which was too difficult. So she played that in Polish and wowed them. Aren’t all madwomen incoherent anyway? Margaret Araneo reviews Beth Holmgren’s great book about the very talented, and very independent, Madame Modjeska.

Be Not Afraid: The Polish (R)evolution, “Solidarity”

Powerful, peaceful and quintessentially Polish: Solidarity. Canadian author Heather Kirk spotlights the many facets of a world-changing revolution that killed “precisely no one.”

Lost Between Worlds

Exquisitely graceful prose and a powerful story make Edward Herzbaum’s journals read like a novel, a timeless telling of the years 1939-1945.

Copernicus Avenue

It’s only been since my father’s generation has begun to pass away that I’ve come to recognize that their stories are the richest part of my inheritance…
– Andrew J. Borkowski

Passage from England: A Memoir

Frank Zajaczkowski’s memoir about growing up in a dysfunctional family and eventually learning his father’s story and coming to understand it.

Maps and Shadows

Krysia Jopek’s story of a gentle family uprooted by people who rearrange borders without hearing the gunshots or seeing the victims.

An Invisible Rope – Portraits of Czesław Miłosz

Friends, colleagues, students, translators, celebrate the life of the great poet, a man defined by his language.