Just Finished Reading Poland by James A. Michener

Poland, by James A. Michener, is the third novel I've read by this late prolific author of forty.  A reflective historical look at this important eastern European country's past from the vantage point of three fictional families sharply divided by class, it was published in 1983, a little more than a year after that Eastern Bloc nation declared martial law and severely curtailed its people's freedoms.  By decade's end, though, communist rule would be overthrown and, following free elections in 1989, a capitalism system was instituted.  Michener's story goes up to and hints at the coup d'état in December, 1981 that put an abrupt end to liberalization in that society without covering it...since he would live on to 1997, I wonder what he thought about the subsequent fall of communism and the Soviet Union.  The novel itself spans nearly 800 years as it describes a stagnant social system in Poland of powerful landowning nobles called "magnates", lesser landowners called "gentry", and the peasants, comprising the vast majority of Poles and who for all practical purposes were the property and slaves of the magnates and gentry.  This grossly inequitable system would last into the last century when two cataclysmic world wars would forever uproot and transform their society...

If there are two important themes winding through this generally chronologically-presented novel, they are that (1) Poland was a land, without the benefit of natural barriers, that was constantly either under the threat of attack and occupation by outside forces or in the state of occupation by them, and (2) the magnates...and to a lesser degree the gentry...fiercely held onto their stranglehold on Polish society while always believing themselves to be enlightened, free, and democratic.  In the early centuries, as Michener laid it out, these ruling families demonstrated great patriotism and courage in the defense of their homeland from invaders.  But when Poland began to be partitioned...and ultimately eliminated from the map for more than a century...in the late 1700s by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, these same magnate families enthusiastically adopted the banners of their new national rulers in the interests of preserving their own properties and status.  Part of the problem that made Polish governments weak was that their ruling king was always elected by the magnate-controlled legislature and that usually weak kings were selected from abroad in order to ensure that none of them would become too powerful.  The other part of the problem was the so-called "Golden Freedom" in which just one member of the elected legislature could raise an objection and cause that entire session's work to be nullified...this caused a usually broken national government which kept the magnates strong and in ultimate control...

I'm not going into any detail describing the fictional families, characters, and locales...the author did a great job with developing and presenting them, though.  As with the previous James Michener novels I've read, Space and Centennial, I had to struggle a bit trying to figure out what was real history and what was a product of his vivid imagination.  The Tatar and Teutonic Knight invasions from the 1200s and 1400s respectively, the union with Lithuania, the partition period, and the many and often desperate struggles of the last century were well-presented...especially with regard to the horrors of Nazi occupation during World War II. You'll get to know a lot about Polish history, culture (especially paintings and classical music), geography and its society...at least up to the year 1981...if you read this worthwhile book.  Well, I guess it's about time for me to look up another James A. Michener novel to start on....