Suggested Reading
Compiled by Florence Waskielewicz Clowes
PAJ 100th Anniversary Edition, October 2011
Updated July 2023
Here are 100-plus books about Poland, Poles, Polish Americans, by Poles and Polish Americans, and more. Keep this as a handy guide when deciding titles for the PolAm book collector in your family.
- A HISTORY, by Norman Davies
- A LIFE, Isaac B. Singer, by Florence Noiville
- A MAN WHO SPANNED TWO ERAS, The Story of Bridge Engineer Ralph Modjeski by Joseph Glomb, tr. by Peter Obst
- A QUESTION OF HONOR, THE KOSCIUSZKO SQUADRON by Lynne S. Olson and Stanley Cloud
- AGAINST A CHRIMSON SKY by James C. Martin
- AMERICAN BETRAYAL, Franklin Roosevelt Casts Poland into Communist Captivity by Francis Casimir Kajencki
- AN INVISIBLE ROPE, PORTRAITS OF CZESLAW MILOSZ, ed by Cynthia L. Haven
- AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF POLISH CULTURE, by Jagiellonian University
- BLOODLANDS: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder
- CASIMIR PULASKI, Cavalry Commander of the American Revolution, by Francis Casimir Kajencki
- CHOPIN IN PARIS, The Life and Times of the Romantic Composer, by Tad Szulc
- CHOPIN’S POLAND, by Iwo and Pamela Zaluski
- CONRAD IN PERSPECTIVE, Essays on Art and Fidelity, by Zdzislaw Najer
- CROCOW, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by Francis Casimir Kajencki
- CZESLAW MILOSZ, CONVERSATIONS, ed. by Cynthia L. Haven
- DICTIONARY OF POLISH PROVERBS, a Bilingual Edition, ed. by Miroslaw Lipinski
- DID THE CHILDREN CRY? by Richard Lukas
- ENGLISH-POLISH DICTIONARY (2 vol) by Kazimierz Bulas and Francis Whitfield
- ENIGMA, How the Poles Broke the Nazi Code, by Wladyslaw Kozarczuk
- ENTANGLEMENT, by Zygmunt Miloszewski, tr by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
- FIGHTING WARSAW, THE POLISH UNDERGROUND STATE, 1939-45, by Stefan Korbonski, tr by F.B. Czarnowski
- FIRE IN THE STEPPES, by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
- FOOD AND DRINK IN MEDIEVAL POLAND by Marie Dembinski
- FORGOTTEN SURVIVORS by Richard Lukas
- GHETTOSTADT. LODZ AND THE MAKING OF A NAZI CITY, by Gordon J. Horwitz
- GOD’S PLAYGROUND, A History of Poland,(2 vol.)by Norman Davies
- GOTHIC ARCHETECTURE IN THE REIGN OF KAZIMIR THE GREAT, by Paul Crossley
- GRAND OBSESSION, MADAM CURIE AND HER WORLD, by Rosalynd Pflaum
- HEART OF EUROPE: A HISTORY OF POLAND, by Norman Davies
- HISTORY OF POLISH LITERATURE by Julian Krzyzanowski
- HOLLYWOOD’S WAR WITH POLAND, 1939-1945, by M.B. Biskupski
- IGNACY JAN PADEREWSKI, POLAND’S PIANIST AND PATRIOT by Elaine Slivinski Lisandrelli
- IGNACY PADEREWSKI: POLAND, by Anita Prazmowska
- IN SEARCH OF LOST MEANINGS, The New Eastern Europe, by Adam Michnik
- INTRODUCTION TO POLISH LITERATURE, by Adam Gillon and Ludwik Krzyanowski
- JOHN PAUL II by Ray Flynn and Robin Moore
- JOSEPH CONRAD, A LIFE, by Zdzislaw Najder
- KAROL WOJTYLA, The thought of the Man who became Pope John II, by Rocco Buttiglione
- KATYN ORDER by Douglas W. Jacobson
- KATYN: A CRIME WITHOUT PUNISHMENT, ed. By Anna M. Cienciala
- LAND OF THE WINGED HORSEMEN: ART IN POLAND, 1572-1764, by Jan Ostrowski, et al.
- LAST HARVEST, How a Cornfield became New Daleville, by Witold Rybcznski
- LEGENDS OF MODERNITY, by Czeslaw Milosz, tr. by Madeleine Levine, (Nobel Prize winner)
- LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE SPLENDOR OF POLAND by Laurie Winters
- LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
- MADAM CURIE, A Biography by Eve Curie, tr. by Vincent Sheen
- MAN OF THE CENTURY, the Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, by Jonathan Kwitny
- MONOLOG OF A DOG, New Poems, by Wislawa Szymborska, tr. Clare Cavanaugh and Stanislaw Baranczyk (Nobel Prize winner)
- NIGHT OF FLAMES by Douglas Jacobson
- NO GREATER ALLY, The Untold Story of Poland’s Forces in World War II, by Kenneth K. Koskodan
- NOBEL PRIZE WOMEN IN SCIENCE by Sharon Bertschme Grayne
- A POLISH CHRISTMAS EVE by Rev. Czeslaw Krysa
- ON THE FIELD OF GLORY by Henryk Sienkiewicz
- PAN TADEUSZ by Adam Mickiewicz, tr. by Kenneth Mackenzie
- POLAND, An Illustrated History, by Iwo Cyprain Pogonowski
- POLAND IN CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION, comp. by Jerzy Braun
- POLAND’S TRANFORMATION, A WORKER’S PROGRESS, comp by Marek Chodakiewicz, et al.
- POLISH AMERICANS AND THEIR HISTORY, Community, Culture and Politics, ed. by John Bukowski
- POLISH FOLK LEGENDS, by Florence Waszkelewicz Clowes
- POLISH HERITAGE COOKBOOK, by Robert Strybel
- POLISH HOLIDAY COOKERY by Robert Strybel
- POLISH PAST IN AMERICA, 1608-1865 by Miecislaus Haiman
- POLISH RENAISSANCE LITERATURE, AN ANTHOLOGY, by Michael J. Mikos
- POLISH WEDDINGS, CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS, by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab
- POLISH-AMERICAN FOLKLORE, by Deborah Anders Silverman
- POLKA HAPPINESS, by Charles and Angie Keil
- PUSH NOT THE RIVER, by James C. Martin
- REMEMBERING SURVIVAL, Inside a Slave Labor Camp, by Christopher R. Browning
- ROME’S MOST FAITHFUL DAUGHTER, The Catholic Church and Independent Poland 1914-1939, by Neal Pease
- SECOND CHANCE, Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower, by Zbigniew Brzezinski
- SOLIDARITY’S SECRET, The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland, by Shana Penn
- SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING, Marie Curie and Radium, by Carla Killough
- SONG, DANCE AND CUSTOMS of Peasant Poland, by Sula Benet
- STORIES OF A BOY GROWING UP IN WARSAW, by Isaac B. Singer
- STREETS OF CROCODILES, Photography, Media and Postsocialist Landscapes in Poland, by Kamil Turowski, Katarzyna Marciniak
- THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO, The Purest Son of Liberty, by James Pula
- THADDEUSZ KOSCIUSZKO: Military Engineer of the American Revolution, by Francis Casimir Kajencki
- THE BOOK NOBODY READ, The Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich
- THE CURIES, A Biography of the Most Controversial Family in Science, by Denis Brian
- THE DELUGE by Henryk Sienkiewicz
- THE FAITHFUL RIVER by Stefan Zeromski
- THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST by Richard Lukas
- THE GENIUS OF JOHN PAUL II, The Great Pope’s Moral Wisdom, by Richard A. Spinello
- THE HIDDEN POPE, The Untold Story of a Lifelong Friendship That is Changing the Relationship Between Catholics and Jews, by Darcy O’Brien
- THE HISTORY OF POLISH LITERATURE by Czeslaw Milosz
- THE ICE ROAD. An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom, by Stefan Waydenfeld
- THE KATYN ORDER by Douglas Jacobson
- THE LAST FINE TIME by Verlyn Klinkenborg
- THE NEW POLISH CUISINE, by Michael Baruch
- THE ORIGINS OF MODERN POLISH DEMOCRACY, ed by M.B. Biskupski, et al.,
- THE ORIGINS OF POLAND, by Witold Dzieciol
- THE POLISH AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, ed. By James S. Pula
- THE POLISH SHORT STORY IN ENGLISH, A Guide and Critical Bibliography, by Jerzy J. Maciuszko
- THE POLISH WAY by Adam Zamoyski
- THE PULASKI LEGION IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, by Francis Casimir Kajencki
- THE SEVERAL LIVES OF JOSEPH CONRAD, by John Stape
- THE SHADOW OF THE SUN, by Ryszard Kapuscinski
- THE STRANGER BEHIND THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION, Notes, letters and Diary entries of G. Joachim Rheticus
- THE TRUMPETER OF KRAKOW, by Eric Kelly
- UNCENTERING THE EARTH, Copernicus and the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, by William T. Vollman
- WARSAW 1944, Poland’s Bid for Freedom, by Robert Forczyk
- WHO SHALL DIE, The Wilhelm Bachner Story, by Samuel Oliner and Kathleen Lee
- WITH FIRE AND SWORD/THE DELUGE/FIRE IN THE STEPPE, The Trilogy, by Henryk Sienkiewicz
- YALTA, The Price of Peace, by S.M. Plokhy.
- YOUR LIFE IS WORTH MINE: THE NEVER TOLD-BEFORE STORY OF HOW POLISH NUNS SAVED HUNDREDS IN WORLD WAR II by Ewa Kurek.
- AND MY CHILDREN DID NOT KNOW ME by John Bukowczyk
- WEARING THE LETTER P by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab