Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine - Softcover

Snyder, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300125992 ISBN 13: 9780300125993

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2007

Synopsis

The forgotten protagonist of this true account aspired to be a cubist painter in his native Kyďv. In a Europe remade by the First World War, his talents led him to different roles―intelligence operative, powerful statesman, underground activist, lifelong conspirator. Henryk Józewski directed Polish intelligence in Ukraine, governed the borderland region of Volhynia in the interwar years, worked in the anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet underground during the Second World War, and conspired against Poland’s Stalinists until his arrest in 1953. His personal story, important in its own right, sheds new light on the foundations of Soviet power and on the ideals of those who resisted it. By following the arc of Józewski’s life, this book demonstrates that his tolerant policies toward Ukrainians in Volhynia were part of Poland’s plans to roll back the communist threat.

The book mines archival materials, many available only since the fall of communism, to rescue Józewski, his Polish milieu, and his Ukrainian dream from oblivion. An epilogue connects his legacy to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the democratic revolution in Ukraine in 2004.

About this title

About the Author

Timothy Snyder is professor of history at Yale University.

Review

“Strikingly new, original, and readable. This book will no doubt force everyone in the field to rethink Ukrainian, Polish, and Soviet history during the interwar period.”―Hiroaki Kuromiya, Indiana University

(Hiroaki Kuromiya)

"Another thrilling and erudite book on the intricate history of East European borderlands by Timothy Snyder, a master of the genre."―Jan Gross, Princeton University

 

(Jan Gross)

"Timothy Snyder draws on his immense knowledge of Europe's borderlands to describe in fascinating detail the shifting alliances and antagonisms―nationalist, ethnic, religious, cultural, ideological―among their 20th century peoples, as reflected in the extraordinary career of Henryk Jozewski, Polish artist, spy, military and political leader in promoting
cooperation between Poles and Ukrainians."―Samuel P. Huntington, Harvard University   (Samuel P. Huntington)

"Timothy Snyder's Sketches from a Secret War is a remarkable combination of a real life spy story, an outstanding piece of historical detective work in previously unavailable archives, and a set of profound reflections on East European history―with many notable echoes in East European politics today."―Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford (Timothy Garton Ash)

"[A] compact, well-told history."―Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs

(Robert Legvold Foreign Affairs)

“[A] compelling book. . . . It is hard not to see this eminently 20th-century story as a biography for a new century. . . . Józewkis’s . . . views are described and analyzed by Snyder with a deft and persuasive blend of empathy and historical detachment.”―Mark Mazower, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History

(Mark Mazower Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History)

"Sheds new light on the foundations of Soviet power and on the ideals of those who resisted it."―Reference & Research Book News

(Reference & Research Book News)

“[A] compelling book. . . . It is hard not to see this eminently 20th-century story as a biography for a new century. . . .”―Mark Mazower, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History

(Mark Mazower Kritika: Explorations in Russian and European History)

“In this extraordinary volume, Tim Snyder (an American historian with his own simultaneous passions for border regions and confusing bits of history) has found out a few other stories worth telling as well.” - Anne Applebaum, The Spectator (Anne Applebaum The Spectator 2006-07-15)

"I count myself fortunate to have come across Sketches from a Secret War, a masterful portrait of Polish artist Henryk Jozewski. Jozewski was a protean figure on his own frontier, the marshy forests where Ukraine, Poland and Russia meet. He was, often at the same time, dramaturg, governor, spymaster and dissident: he left his remarkable life story in the form of interrogation records in the vaults of the KGB. Jozewski's young biographer, Timothy Snyder, is himself an artist in words and this narrative is at once Cold War thriller and meditation on the vagaries of fate."―Nicholas Rothwell, The Australian (2006 books-of-the-year edition of ('What the writers read') (Nicholas Rothwell The Australian 2006-12-09)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0300125992
• ISBN 13: 9780300125993
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384