Norman Davies (Author of Europe)

Norman Davies鈥檚 Followers (509)

Norman Davies

Born

in Bolton, Lancashire, England

June 08, 1939

Genre

History

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Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom. From 1971, Davies taught Polish history at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) of the University of London, where he was professor from 1985 to 1996. Currently, he is Supernumary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. Throughout his career, Davies has lectured in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Poland, and in most of the rest of Europe as well.

The work which established Davies' reputation in the English-speaking world was God's Playground (1981), a comprehensive overview of Polish history. In Polan Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom. From 1971, Davies taught Polish history at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) of the University of London, where he was professor from 1985 to 1996. Currently, he is Supernumary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. Throughout his career, Davies has lectured in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Poland, and in most of the rest of Europe as well.

The work which established Davies' reputation in the English-speaking world was God's Playground (1981), a comprehensive overview of Polish history. In Poland, the book was published officially only after the fall of communism. In 2000, Davies' Polish publishers Znak published a collection of his essays and articles under the title Smok wawelski nad Tamiz膮 ("The Wawel Dragon on the Thames"). It is not available in English.

In 1984, Davies published Heart of Europe, a briefer history of Poland. Interestingly, the chapters are arranged in reverse chronological order. In the 1990s, Davies published Europe: A History (1996) and The Isles: A History (1999), about Europe and the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively. Each book is a narrative interlarded with numerous sidepanel discussions of microtopics. In 2002, at the suggestion of the city's mayor, Bogdan Zdrojewski, Davies and his former research assistant, Roger Moorhouse, co-wrote a history of Wroc艂aw / Breslau, a Silesian city. Titled Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, the book was published simultaneously in English, Polish, German and Czech. Davies also writes essays and articles for the mass media. Among others, he has worked for the BBC as well as British and American magazines and newspapers, such as The Times, The New York Review of Books and The Independent. In Poland, his articles appeared in the liberal Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Davies' book Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw describes the Warsaw Uprising. It was followed by Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory (2006). In 2008 Davies participated in the documentary film "The Soviet Story"

Some historians, most vocally Lucy Dawidowicz and Abraham Brumberg, object to Davies' historical treatment of the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland. They accuse him of minimizing historic antisemitism, and of promoting a view that accounts of the Holocaust in international historiography largely overlook the suffering of non-Jewish Poles. Davies鈥檚 supporters contend that he gives due attention to the genocide and war crimes perpetrated by both Hitler and Stalin on Polish Jews and non-Jews. Davies himself argues that "Holocaust scholars need have no fears that rational comparisons might threaten that uniqueness. Quite the opposite." and that "...one needs to re-construct mentally the fuller picture in order to comprehend the true enormity of Poland鈥檚 wartime cataclysm, and then to say with absolute conviction 鈥楴ever Again鈥�." In 1986, Dawidowicz鈥檚 criticism of Davies鈥� historical treatment of the Holocaust was cited as a factor in a controversy at Stanford University in which Davies was denied a tenured faculty position for alleged "scientific flaws". Davies sued the university for breach of contract and defamation of character, but in 1989 the court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction in an academic matter.

Davies holds a number of honorary titles and memberships, including honorary doctorates from the universities of the Jagiellonian University (since 2003), Lublin, Gda艅sk and Warsaw (since 2007), memberships in the Polish Academy of Learning (PAU) and the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea, and fellowships of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society. Davies received an honorary DLitt degree from his alma mater the University of Sussex. Davies is also an honorary ...more

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Average rating: 4.1 · 16,509 ratings · 1,325 reviews · 87 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	Europe: A History 4.21 avg rating — 5,106 ratings — published 1996 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe 3.88 avg rating — 3,268 ratings — published 2011 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rising 44 4.15 avg rating — 1,589 ratings — published 2003 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945 4.16 avg rating — 1,384 ratings — published 2006 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Isles: A History 3.99 avg rating — 1,150 ratings — published 1999 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795 4.22 avg rating — 769 ratings — published 1981 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 2: 1795 to the Present 4.29 avg rating — 567 ratings — published 1981 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War 1919 - 1920 and The Miracle on the Vistula 4.09 avg rating — 490 ratings — published 1972 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present 3.87 avg rating — 472 ratings — published 1984 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bo偶e igrzysko: Historia Polski 4.30 avg rating — 377 ratings — published 2005 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Europe: A History (4 books)
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Norman Davies

4.21 avg rating — 5,156 ratings

Quotes by Norman Davies (?)

“It is indeed the duty of historians to stress the contrast between
the standards of the past and the standards of the present. Some
fulfil that duty on purpose, others by accident.”
― Norman Davies, Europe: A History

tags: history

13 likes

“The Fascist utopia, like that of the Communists, was false, and generated immense suffering. But there were those who dreamed it sincerely.”
― Norman Davies, Europe: A History

tags: communism, fascism, utopia

9 likes

“One has to put aside the popular notion that language and culture are endlessly passed on from generation to generation, rather as if 鈥楽cottishness鈥� or 鈥楨nglishness鈥� were essential constituents of some national genetic code. If this were so, it would never be possible to forge new nations 鈥� like the United States of America or Australia 鈥� from diverse ethnic elements.”
― Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

6 likes

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Polls

Zagraniczna ksi膮偶ka sierpnia

Powstanie '44 | Norman Davies

2 votes 66.7%

Kontrapunkt | Aldous Huxley

1 vote 33.3%

Zwi膮zek 偶ydowskich policjant贸w | Michael Chabon

0 votes 0.0%

Zatrute ciasteczko | Alan Bradley

0 votes 0.0%

3 total votes

2 comments

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