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Unquiet Days
The author describes life in Poland during the two years he lived in Warsaw, drawing on history, politics, and personal experience to reveal the traditional ways of Polish life and the realities of living under martial law
- GenresTravelNonfictionPoland
286 pages, Hardcover
First published August 29, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 21, 2018
A brilliant set of observations on Poland between 1978 and 1982. I found the diary during the early part of Marshal Law especially interesting, as well as, his descriptions of the pilgrimage to Czestochowa in which the author took part.
February 9, 2014
A unique window on Poland during the birth of Solidarity
This book starts out like a simple love story. Boy meets Girl in a hotel bar in London, boy follows girls to Poland. Then suddenly he is teaching English in the Methodist School in Warsaw, walking through a communist city that is about to explode into the world-changing Solidarity movement. Tom Swick has written a closely observed, wonderfully detailed, ground level view of life in Poland during the critical years of 1980-84. Living with food shortages, dealing with bureaucracy, meeting friends behind the barren corridors of socialist apartment buildings in the rich apartments of their lives. The characters he describes, whether fellow teachers, students, shopkeepers or pilgrims, are compelling, amusing, and complete. Swick conveys in carefully chosen detail the crescendo of events leading up to the declaration of Martial Law and the occupation of the city by tanks and soldiers. A long section on the annual walking pilgrimage to Jasna Góra at the end is a compelling description of the power of tradition, religion, and Polish endurance in adversity.
This book starts out like a simple love story. Boy meets Girl in a hotel bar in London, boy follows girls to Poland. Then suddenly he is teaching English in the Methodist School in Warsaw, walking through a communist city that is about to explode into the world-changing Solidarity movement. Tom Swick has written a closely observed, wonderfully detailed, ground level view of life in Poland during the critical years of 1980-84. Living with food shortages, dealing with bureaucracy, meeting friends behind the barren corridors of socialist apartment buildings in the rich apartments of their lives. The characters he describes, whether fellow teachers, students, shopkeepers or pilgrims, are compelling, amusing, and complete. Swick conveys in carefully chosen detail the crescendo of events leading up to the declaration of Martial Law and the occupation of the city by tanks and soldiers. A long section on the annual walking pilgrimage to Jasna Góra at the end is a compelling description of the power of tradition, religion, and Polish endurance in adversity.
August 30, 2008
I felt like I was walking the streets of Warsaw, shivering on the tram in winter, and living through history. This book was excellent!
January 27, 2014
A very good story on 1980s Poland from an American who lived in Poland for a couple of years (and married a Polish woman) and wrote about life during the years of Martial Law and of course the Solidarity Movement.
Mr. Swick does a fantastic job of recounting his time in Poland, describing the life of the middle-class in Poland, with the living situations as well as the educational system (he worked as a Teacher in an English School in Warsaw). In this book he also describes Easter weekend (in more detail) as well as his experience on the August Pilgrimage, from Warsaw to Czestochowa, home of Jasna Gora, the Black Madonna, and also his experience returning to Poland in the early 1990s, when the rule of Communism was ended and Poland was once more a free country.
If you are looking at a glimpse of life in Poland during the last years of Communism rule, this book is definitely one to check out
Mr. Swick does a fantastic job of recounting his time in Poland, describing the life of the middle-class in Poland, with the living situations as well as the educational system (he worked as a Teacher in an English School in Warsaw). In this book he also describes Easter weekend (in more detail) as well as his experience on the August Pilgrimage, from Warsaw to Czestochowa, home of Jasna Gora, the Black Madonna, and also his experience returning to Poland in the early 1990s, when the rule of Communism was ended and Poland was once more a free country.
If you are looking at a glimpse of life in Poland during the last years of Communism rule, this book is definitely one to check out
October 27, 2008
Someone recommended this for my trip to Poland: it's basically the travel diaries and impressions of an American who moved to Poland in the late 1970's to be with a woman. I feel like it filled me in on the Polish mindset, the trevails the country has been through and even some ideas on side trips and what to eat. Maybe the best thing is how much better things are in Poland now.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews