Description
Book SynopsisThe book addresses the genesis of Polish integral nationalism and the role of Roman Dmowski as a co-founder of this phenomenon in the development of Polish political thought at the fin-de-siècle. Based on extensive documentary research, it attempts to show a broader picture of modern Polish political and social thinking in context of the late 19th and early 20th East Central Europe. The author reflects on the significance of racial thinking and Social Darwinism of the new nationalist imagination, arguing that its intellectual foundations came from anti-positivist and anti-Enlightenment tradition. He challenges the widespread assumption that Polish nationalism in its early version cherished somehow mild attitudes toward minorities, especially the Jews, claiming instead that enmity toward «Otherness» constitutes its ideological core. A major feature of the book is the contextualization of Polish nationalism against the backdrop of the fin-de-siècle European political thought.
Trade Review«One of the most important studies written on antisemitism in Poland, this brilliant, well-researched biography of Roman Dmowski, the leading figure in Polish national and antisemitic thought, spares no punches.» (Scott Ury, Tel Aviv University, Israel)
«Engagingly written and convincingly structured, this is a extremely valuable, deeply researched and fascinating study of Polish ethnonationalism in making.» (Joanna Beata Michlic, University of Bristol, United Kingdom)
«An energetic new interpretation of a crucial and controversial figure in Polish history and politics.» (Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University, USA)
Table of ContentsContents: Fin-de-siècle mass politics – Integral nationalism – Modern Polish politics – Polish-Jewish relations – Polish lands – Political anti-Semitism – Racial thinking – Political Social Darwinism – Student politics – Russian Poland.
