Poland is a historical novel written by James A. Michener and published in 1983 detailing the times and tribulations of three interconnected Polish families (the Lubonski family, the Bukowski family, and the Buk family) across eight centuries, ending in the then-present day (1981). The Lubonski family is one of the princely houses of Poland, its wealthy patriarchs generally ruling over their region; the Bukowski family are petty nobles, with a well-known and respected name but typically little money; and the Buk family are impoverished peasants. Despite their drastically different social standings, members of the families interact frequently throughout the generations, sometimes as allies and sometimes as adversaries.

Overview

Michener was hired by a television company to travel to a foreign country to shoot a documentary. He was offered support to go anywhere in the world and Michener decided to make the trip to Poland. Following this, Michener made several trips back to Poland and conducted extensive study of Poland's history and culture. He began writing the book in 1979 and it was published four years later. Like Michener's other works, he includes an acknowledgments section at the beginning of the book; however due to the political turmoil in Poland at the time, Michener decided not to include the names of the people he traveled with for fear of persecutions against them. He writes: "Normally, as I have done in my other novels, I would list their names, their impressive occupations, their achievements in research and scholarship, but I cannot ascertain whether in the present climate this would hurt or help them."

Chapter summary

The book, written in an episodic format, tells the story of three families and the many generations of each family throughout the history of Poland. The three families (Buk, Bukowski and Lubonski) are fictional, as are the other characters and the ancestral home of all the families, Bukowo, where much of the action takes place. The plot, however, takes place throughout the history of Poland and mentions many historic people. The events are largely real events in which the fictional characters interact. The book spans over seven hundred years. The book starts with an acknowledgements section, maps of the location of the plot, an explanation of which characters are fictional as opposed to which ones are historical, and a description of the hierarchy of Polish society.

Bukowo phrase

Reception

Poland received mostly favorable reviews and was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.