Description
Book SynopsisThe subject of this volume is the social and political history of East-Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on Polish society in the interwar period (1918-1939) and the role of the intelligentsia. These articles make available the results of work otherwise published only in the author''s books in Polish. The first part deals with key themes in the history of the last two centuries: nationalism and the nation state, the role of culture in the recovery of Polish independence, the Versailles system, and the growth of authoritarianism and fascism. The second part focuses on the history of Polish society in the 20th century, highlighting the extraordinary importance of the intelligentsia in modern Poland. Two articles also discuss the impact of new technologies and media in interwar Poland.
Table of ContentsContents: Preface; State and Society in East-Central Europe, 19th-20th Centuries : Remarques sur l'évolution de l'idée nationale et de la conscience nationale en Pologne aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles; The role of Polish culture in the Polish nation's liberation strivings; The emergence of the system of national states in Central Europe (1918); L'Europe de Versailles, 1918-1923. Nationalités et securité collective; Arbeiter und Nationalismus in Polen vom Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges bis in die Gegenwart; Authoritarian systems in Central and South-Eastern Europe (1918-1939): analogies and differences; Fascist systems and authoritarian regimes - their basic features; East-central Europe as a periphery of 'genuine Europe'? Social Structure and the Intelligentsia in Modern Poland: Social structure of Poland, 1918-1939; Social inequalities in 20th-century Poland; The Polish intelligentsia between the intellectual élite and the middle class - typicality and peculiarity of the Polish social stratum; The historical role of the intelligentsia in East-Central and South-Eastern Europe; The old and the new rôles of the intelligentsia in Poland; Learned professions in Poland, 1918-1939; Techniques et civilisation dans la Pologne d'entre-deux-guerres 1918-1939; The impact of new technology on cultural life in Poland, 1918-1939; Die Folgewirkungen von Krieg und Okkupation und die Entwicklung der sozialen Klassen in Polen 1945-1948; Sozialgeschichte in Polen (with Anna Zarnowska); Index.
