Poland: The First Thousand Years by Patrice M. Dabrowski

Two different books before and after the Enlightenment

My interest in Poland springs from my partial Polish heritage. Researching my family’s history led me to an interest in Polish history, literature, and film. Unlike the history of some Western European countries such as England, France, or Italy, however, Poland’s past is not common knowledge taught in America’s schools. It can be difficult to appreciate a nation’s arts and letters when one doesn’t have the historical context upon which its cultural works are based. For a while, therefore, I’ve kept my eyes open for a concise yet comprehensive history of Poland, one that’s neither too academic nor too dumbed-down for the layman. I found what I was looking for with Patrice Dabrowski’s 2014 book Poland: The First Thousand Years. This history nails the sweet spot where erudition and accessibility meet. For her distinguished career as a scholar in Polish studies, Dabrowski was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 2014.

Thematically and stylistically, Dabrowski’s Poland reads as if it were two different books stuck together between the covers of one volume. The dividing line is the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, which occurs about 60 percent of the way through the book. Everything up to that point is an old-school royal history. It’s all about the succession of kings from one to the next, along with the battles, royal marriages, and elections that influenced the path to the throne. One gets almost no idea of what life was like for the Poles who were not high up on the ladder of nobility. This portion of the book reads a lot like a high school history textbook (if there were a high school course devoted exclusively to Poland). The text, though very informative, relates events in a rather cursory, just-the-facts fashion that imparts the necessary names, dates, and places to the reader. There isn’t much analysis beyond these facts, no social history, and Dabrowski doesn’t really elucidate any broader historical trends or push any thesis. I suspect this approach is due to what’s available in the historical record from these earlier centuries and the sheer volume of a millennium of events that Dabrowski feels she’s obligated to cram into one volume.

After the 1791 constitution, however, this becomes a totally different book, and a much better one. While Dabrowski still manages to deliver the names, dates, and places of all the important historical events, the writing in the book’s latter half is much more thoughtful and penetrating. All facets of Polish history and society are covered. The reader gets a vivid impression of what life was like for Poles of all classes and backgrounds. The text reads as if Dabrowski were actually shaping the historiography of Poland (as she should be, since she’s a historian and an expert in this area) rather than just relating events. Her coverage of the 19th and 20th centuries is everything that anyone interested in Polish history could hope for­—comprehensive, fascinating, erudite, and thought-provoking.

I’m not a historian, but I imagine the one-volume history, as a scholarly endeavor, is a bit of a thankless job. The author is expected to include everything, and for every event she discusses there’s a scholarly monograph that examines it more deeply and thoroughly. Nevertheless, it takes a very knowledgeable scholar and a very competent writer to put together an all-encompassing synthesis that’s suitable for general readers but also passes muster among academicians. Dabrowski deserves commendation for her formidable achievement in compiling and composing this welcome history of Poland. The reader comes away with a very enlightening education in that nation’s turbulent past.  

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The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

A believably scary what-might-have-been, for most of its length

Following his historic solo flight from New York to Paris, Charles Lindbergh was the most famous and beloved American alive. Unfortunately, however, this handsome, charming, and charismatic hero had white supremacist views that were very similar to the Nazis. He made openly antisemitic remarks and was an advocate of eugenics (selective breeding of human beings) for the advancement of the white race. What if Lindbergh had developed a closer relationship to the Nazis and used his celebrity to further an antisemitic agenda in the United States? Author Philip Roth asks that question in his novel The Plot Against America, published in 2004.

In this alternate history, Lindbergh runs for president in 1940 on an isolationist platform and defeats the incumbent Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, is startled and appalled by the election results and fearful of what effect Lindbergh’s presidency will have on the lives of America’s Jews. The novel is narrated by the family’s nine-year-old son, Philip Roth, an alternate version of the author himself. It is probably safe to assume that portions of the novel are based on the real Philip Roth’s own youth in Newark, before the plot ventures off into an alternate universe.

Although this book is a political thriller of sorts, much of the narrative is simply a realistic look at the life of a Jewish boy and his family in the 1940s. If you’re looking for a Robert Ludlum-type thriller about evil Nazis plotting a terrorist takeover of America, this isn’t it. Prior to reading the book, if you’re aware of its premise, you might expect concentration camps and jack-booted stormtroopers marching through the streets of Newark. To my surprise, this Nazi invasion is much more toned-down and realistic in nature, which is the book’s strength. Although the plot burns on a slow fuse, for most of it’s length it is quite believable. The fact is, prior to America’s entry into World War II, there were many Nazi sympathizers in America, ultraconservatives who hated and feared communism, and at that time America as a whole was probably pretty antisemitic. Roth builds upon this historic reality without exaggerating it to the point of a science fiction dystopia or a tongue-in-cheek satire like Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here. In fact, Lindbergh’s actions as president in this novel are actually more subtle and less overtly totalitarian than many of the brash displays of executive power by presidents in our recent history. Events in this book escalate on a gradual scale, but they still bear terrifying implications, not just for Jews but for any American who values democracy and freedom.

Unfortunately, the book takes a strange turn towards the end. In Chapter 8 (of 9), all of a sudden the plot becomes really far-fetched. The story ventures into Lindbergh conspiracy theories that undermine the realism of what came before. Then, in the final chapter, Roth regains his sense of humor at an inappropriate time and injects comedy scenes into depictions of events that should have been tragic and profound. The foibles-of-a-young-Jewish-boy humor that worked so well in Chapter 1 feels out of place after a Nazi-inspired pogrom.

Overall, the merits of The Plot Against America outweigh its faults. This is an intelligently created alternate reality that insightfully examines real history and in doing so broadens the reader’s understanding of that history. Whether he’s writing about a Nazi plot or everyday Jewish-American life, Roth’s storytelling is so captivating that you may not even realize you’re getting a valuable lesson in American history, culture, and politics.  

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Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick

Captains Outrageous

Following the overland expedition of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific coast of North America, the U.S. government decided to pay some overdue attention to the world’s oceans. Many European nations had already completed globe-circling voyages of discovery, most notably Portugal’s Ferdinand Magellan and Britain’s Captain Cook. After much bureaucratic delay, the United States Exploring Expedition was launched in 1838. In his 2003 book Sea of Glory, Nathaniel Philbrick chronicles the adventures, hardships, successes, and failures of the Ex. Ex. (as it shall hereafter be abbreviated). This U.S. Navy endeavor was led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, a skilled surveyor but an inexperienced ship’s captain. The expedition’s main goals were to chart the islands of the Pacific to prevent the shipwrecks of American whalers, survey the Pacific coast of North America at the mouth of the Columbia River, and, in a best-case scenario, confirm the speculated existence of an Antarctic continent.

I like to read books about scientific exploration, such as Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, or the Narrative of Captain Cook’s voyages. That’s what I expected when I picked up this book, and its title and subtitle do little to dispel that expectation. Exploration and discovery, however, is not so much what this book is about. It’s really about what a terrible captain Wilkes was, and how he abused his officers and crew. Philbrick is a naval historian, and this book delves heavily into naval regulations, naval discipline, and naval bureaucracy. Although some distinguished scientists sailed with the expedition, there is really only one short chapter devoted to them and their discoveries. Nevertheless, there are a few exciting episodes of danger from icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean and some harrowing tales of conflict with the Natives of the Pacific islands. Although this wasn’t quite the book I expected, and naval history isn’t really my bag, I found Philbrick’s narrative quite riveting, and he kept me thoroughly engaged throughout.

The ending of the book is a bit of a disappointment. That’s mostly the fault of history, but a little of the blame falls on Philbrick as well. He spends most of the book asserting what a horrible commander and unlikable human being Wilkes was. By the end of the book, the reader is ready to hang Wilkes from the nearest yardarm for his egregious behavior. In the final few chapters, however, Philbrick relents and delivers a surprisingly flattering assessment of Wilkes. The fact that Wilkes doesn’t get much comeuppance from the U.S. Navy, who predictably favor an officer over his underlings, is not much of a surprise, but the fact that Wilkes doesn’t even get any comeuppance from Philbrick is dissatisfying and strange. Philbrick spurs you on to hate Wilkes for most of the book, then all of a sudden you’re supposed to do a 180 and admire the expedition leader for his bull-headed tenacity. Philbrick criticizes Wilkes for stealing credit from his crew members for the accomplishments of the Ex. Ex., but in the end, Philbrick gives him most of the credit anyway

Notwithstanding my few quibbles, this book taught me a great deal about the Ex. Ex., and it makes me want to read more about this lesser-known but important escapade in American history. Philbrick provides extensive bibliographic notes for those who want to learn more. For the more scientifically inclined like me, he recommends William Stanton’s The Great United States Exploring Expedition (1975). In addition, the Ex. Ex.’s official publications, including Wilkes’s Narrative and the subsequent scientific volumes, are available for free reading online at HathiTrust, Biodiversity Heritage Library, and other digital repositories.
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