The first book to examine the communist takeover in Poland from the bottom up, and the first to use archives opened in 1989, Rebuilding Poland provides a radically new interpretation of the communist experience. Padraic Kenney argues that the postwar takeover was also a social revolution, in which workers expressed their hopes for dramatic social change and influenced the evolution and eventual downfall of the communist regime.Kenney compares Lodz, Poland's largest manufacturing center, and Wroclaw, a city rebuilt as Polish upon the ruins of wartime destruction. His account of dramatic...

Partisan Histories is an introduction to the multiple uses of history in contemporary political debate and conflict. As communities reimagine themselves, a contest over defining legitimacy, identifying us and others, and jockeying for political control intersects with fights over history and memory. Here distinguished scholars examine how competing versions of national identity are legitimized through appeals to carefully constructed 'pasts' both in democracies and in repressive regimes. The essays focus on the cases of Armenia, Chile, France, Germany, India and Pakistan, Israel and...

"The Burdens of Freedom "is a history of fifteen countries -- some newly-created -- as they make their way from communism to the present day. For some, the story ends happily, with triumphant entry into the European Union in 2004. Others are caught in limbo, destroyed by nationalist politics, war, and genocide, or crippled by corrupt political practices. Domestically, each country, and the region as a whole, has seen a divide emerge between winners and losers, as the emergence from one particular political and economic system has proved easy for some social groups, impossible for others. Both...

The first book to examine the communist takeover in Poland from the bottom up, and the first to use archives opened in 1989, Rebuilding Poland provides a radically new interpretation of the communist experience. Padraic Kenney argues that the postwar takeover was also a social revolution, in which workers expressed their hopes for dramatic social change and influenced the evolution and eventual downfall of the communist regime.Kenney compares Lodz, Poland's largest manufacturing center, and Wroclaw, a city rebuilt as Polish upon the ruins of wartime destruction. His account of dramatic...