History /
any thoughts about Norman Davies ability to present accurate history of Poland?? [12]
I think one of things about Davies is that he cuts through a lot of fixed ideas, so, for example, at one point in God's Playground, he points out that the distance between peasants and szlachta was so wide that we could speak of them as being totally different cultures. It's an important thing to consider when talking of Poland as a culture and country of tolerance and freedom. It was if you were of a certain class. likewise, he talks about intercultural/ethnic relationships in a way which is not loaded down by political rhetoric. Important if you are also examining local sources.
A bit more contraversial; he also gets away from a Jew-heavy history of Poland.
Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not anti-Jewish or suggesting that Jewish history is not a vital or important piece of Polish history. It's just that for many historians it seems to be the only thing they focus on and so miss other bits which don't fit/ aren't necessary to their project.
He's been criticised for not paying enough attention to jewish history in Poland but, as he says, other authors have done a lot about it and so he does not need to do so much. However, he does bring up things which are often obscured because many historians focus almost exclusively on it.
One example was about riots in cities like £odż in the first half of the 20th Century. These are often cited as pogroms and anti-Jewish riots, however Davies points out, other nationalities/ethnicities were also targetted, especially Ukrainians. This would suggest the riots were not specifically anti-Jewish as opposed to 'anti-foreigner' or 'anti-cheap-labourer'. This can bring whole new interpretations to the events arther than just being labelled 'anti-Jewish pogroms'.
