Polish Studies

Polish Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Poland about their new books

Joshua D. Zimmerman, "Jozef Pilsudski: Founding Father of Modern Poland" (Harvard UP, 2022)

February 8, 2026

Jozef Pilsudski

Joshua D. Zimmerman
Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

In the 1920s, Józef Piłsudski was a household name not just in Poland, but across Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean as well. Yet this complex and c…

Agata Fijalkowski, "Law, Visual Culture, and the Show Trial" (Routledge, 2023)

December 30, 2025

Law, Visual Culture, and the Show Trial

Agata Fijalkowski
Hosted by Alex Batesmith
Listen:

Addressing the relationship between law and the visual, this book examines the importance of photography in Central, East, and Southeast European show…

Marek Kohn, "The Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey Through Cities at the Heart of Europe" (Yale UP, 2023)

November 24, 2025

The Stories Old Towns Tell

Marek Kohn
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War—some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt…

Elizabeth R. Hyman, "The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising" (Harper, 2025)

November 3, 2025

The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto

Elizabeth R. Hyman
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is one of the most storied events of the Holocaust, yet previous accounts of have almost entirely focused on its male parti…

Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley, "Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution" (Stanford UP, 2025)

September 8, 2025

Good Change

Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley
Hosted by Tim Jones

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain …

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, "Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48" (Cambridge UP, 2014)

August 16, 2025

Beyond Violence

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48 (Cambridge UP, 2014) tells a story of Polish and Slovak Holocaust survivors returnin…

Edward Luce, "Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)

August 12, 2025

Zbig

Edward Luce
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union’s demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe’s bloodl…

Darius Von Guttner-Sporzynski, "The Jagiellon Dynasty, 1386-1596: Politics, Culture, Diplomacy" (Brepols, 2024)

July 21, 2025

The Jagiellon Dynasty, 1386-1596

Darius Von Guttner-Sporzynski

The volume offers a re-examination of the rise of the Jagiellon dynasty in medieval and early modern Central Europe. Originating in Lithuania and exte…

Jan Borowicz, "Perverse Memory and the Holocaust: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Polish Bystanders" (Routledge, 2024)

May 21, 2025

Perverse Memory and the Holocaust

Jan Borowicz

Today I interviewed Jan Borowicz about Perverse Memory and the Holocaust: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Polish Bystanders (Routledge, 2024). "The…

Alex Storozynski, "Spies In My Blood: A Polish Family’s Secret Fight Against Nazis & Communists" (Polestar-Media, 2025)

May 11, 2025

Spies In My Blood

Alex Storozynski

Spies In My Blood: A Polish Family’s Secret Fight Against Nazis & Communists (Polestar-Media, 2025) is the true story of two brothers raised in New Yo…

Charlie English, "The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War" (Random House, 2025)

May 4, 2025

The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War

Charlie English
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For nearly five decades after the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, forming the longest and most heavily guarded border on earth. No …

Catching the China-Europe Express: Logistics, Local Agency & Eurasian Geopolitics in the Polish Borderlands

May 4, 2025

Catching the China-Europe Express

Wojciech Kębłowski

In this episode, we focus on the often-overlooked geographies of Eurasian connectivity with Dr. Wojciech Kębłowski, whose research brings attention to…

David G. Williamson, "Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939" (Pen & Sword, 2011)

April 9, 2025

Poland Betrayed

David G. Williamson
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

After staging a mock attack at Gleiwitz, Germany unleashed its blitzkrieg on Poland on September 1, 1939. Two week later, Soviet forces streamed into …

Peter Whitewood, "The Soviet-Polish War and its Legacy: Lenin’s Defeat and the Rise of Stalinism" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 22, 2025

The Soviet-Polish War and its Legacy

Peter Whitewood
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

This detailed study traces the history of the Soviet-Polish War (1919-20), the first major international clash between the forces of communism and ant…

Sabrina P. Ramet and Lavinia Stan, "East Central Europe Since 1989" (Routledge, 2025)

March 9, 2025

East Central Europe Since 1989

Sabrina P. Ramet and Lavinia Stan
Hosted by Cynthia Horne

East Central Europe Since 1989 (Routledge, 2025) examines politics, economics, media, religious institutions, transitional justice, gender inequality…

Canada and Eastern Europe, 1945–1991: Meeting in the Middle

February 10, 2025

Canada and Eastern Europe, 1945–1991

Andrea Chandler
Hosted by Andrea Talaber

In this episode, host Andrea Talabér (CEU Press) sat down with Andrea Chandler to talk about her new book with CEU Press, Canada and Eastern Europe, 1…

Ewa Stańczyk, "Cartoons and Antisemitism: Visual Politics of Interwar Poland" (U Press of Mississippi, 2024)

February 1, 2025

Cartoons and Antisemitism

Ewa Stańczyk
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Antisemitic caricatures had existed in Polish society since at least the mid-nineteenth century. But never had the devastating impacts of this imagery…

Joanna Mizielińska, "Queer Kinship on the Edge?: Families of Choice in Poland" (Routledge, 2024)

January 1, 2025

Queer Kinship on the Edge?

Joanna Mizielińska
Hosted by Qing Shen

Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland (Routledge, 2024) explores ways in which queer families from Central and Eastern Europe compli…

Zygmunt Bauman, "Theory and Society" (Polity, 2024)

December 16, 2024

Theory and Society

Zygmunt Bauman
Hosted by Matt Dawson

The publication of Theory and Society in 2024 bought to conclusion a three volume collection of The Selected Writings of Zygmunt Bauman. Preceded by C…

Jacob Flaws, "Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

December 9, 2024

Spaces of Treblinka

Jacob Flaws
Hosted by Kelly McFall

Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp (U Nebraska Press, 2024) utilizes testimonies, oral histories, and recollections from Jewish, German, and …