Read more
This volume considers the various interactions between the culture of the book and politics in Polish history. Each of the fourteen authors deals with a different topic, chronologically starting with the beginnings of the early Piast monarchy in the 10th century up to contemporary times: for instance, E. Potkowski discusses the political ambitions of Duke Mieszko I and his descendants with regard to the introduction of early writing and reading in Poland; A. Kamler analyses the attitude of the Jagiellonian dynasty in the 1500s towards books and education; and D. Jarosz traces the changing approach of the communists towards book production and the promotion of readership in their attempts to persuade Polish society to accept their ideology.
List of contents
Contents: Edward Potkowski: The Book in the World of Politics: Early Literary Culture in Poland, 10th-12th Century - Jacek Soszynski: Papal Plenitude of Power and World History: Papal Political Ideology in the Chronicle of Martin the Pole - Krzysztof Ozóg: The Concept «rex illiteratus quasi asinus coronatus» in Late Medieval Cracovian Writings - Anna Kamler: The Jagiellons vis-a-vis the Book and the Education of the Nobility - Jan Dziegielewski: The Polish Sejm Debating over a Work of History: The Case of 'De bello Moschovitico' by Reinhold Heidenstein, in 1587 - Dariusz Kuzmina: The Jesuits as a Monastic Community Supportive of Secular Power in Reinforcing Catholicism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 16th-17th Century - Jaroslaw Kurkowski: Historiography as an Instrument of Politics in the 18th Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Katarzyna Seroka: The Polish Library in Paris, 1838-1893 - Iwona H. Pugacewicz: Politics, Power, and the Batignolles School Library - Jacek Puchalski: Book, Press, and Book Market Research in the Service of Polish Government Agencies: The Institute for Scientific Investigation of Communism in Warsaw, 1930-1937 - Agnieszka Chamera-Nowak: Books in the Hands of Stalinists (1948-1956): Policies, their Implementation, and Results - Dariusz Jarosz: Communist Authorities, the Society, and the Book in Poland, 1945-1989: Mutual Relationships - Malgorzata Ptasinska: Forbidden Books: The Polish Instytut Literacki in Paris and the Editorial Policies of Jerzy Giedroyc, 1946-1989 - Marek Tobera: Polish Government Administration and the Professional Press Dedicated to the Book Market, 1989-2000.
About the author
Jacek Soszy¿ski is Professor of History at the University of Warsaw. His field of expertise is medieval historiography and the history of ideas during the Middle Ages.
Agnieszka Chamera-Nowak is Assistant Professor of Library Science at the University of Warsaw. She specialises in the history of the book in the early modern period and the twentieth century.
