Riding History to Death

Confessions of a Battered Rider

By Karol Modzelewski

2013

First Published

4.31

Average Rating

402

Number of Pages

12H16M

Audio Length

This powerful memoir traces the life of Karol Modzelewski, one of the preeminent Polish dissidents of the twentieth century. With humor and perception, Modzelewski describes his formative years. Born in 1937 to a Polish-born mother and Russian-Jewish father in Moscow, he spent his early schooling and underwent deep indoctrination in the Soviet Union. In 1945 he moved with his mother and stepfather, a prominent communist, to Poland when his stepfather was appointed as foreign minister in Warsaw. In the relatively “liberal” Polish atmosphere, Modzelewski gradually awoke to the realities of the party system during his university years. Modzelewski discusses the experiences and realizations that led him in 1964 to coauthor with Jacek Kuroń the famous “Open Letter to the Party,” for which he and Kuroń were imprisoned. With keen critical insight, Modzelewski describes his role as one of the leading intellectuals of the Solidarity movement. Much more than mere autobiography, this nuanced book is a profound and highly critical analysis of Polish politics over the last fifty years. Characteristically, Modzelewski refuses to portray events in black and white terms, providing a frank assessment of the country’s evolution from communism to democracy, the genesis of Polish dissidence and its success in dismantling communism, and the causes of the current crisis of democracy in Poland.

Avg Rating

4.31

Number of Ratings

243

5 STARS

49%

4 STARS

37%

3 STARS

11%

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Karol Modzelewski

Author · 3 books

Karol Cyryl Modzelewski was a Polish historian, writer, politician and academic. He was the adopted son of Zygmunt Modzelewski. A professor at the University of Wrocław and the University of Warsaw, he was a member of the Polish United Workers Party but was expelled from it in 1964 for opposition to some policies of the party. With Jacek Kuroń he co-wrote the Open Letter to the Party, for which he was imprisoned for three years. He took part in the Polish 1968 political crisis, and for his activities he was again imprisoned for three and a half years. During the 1980 strikes he came up with the name of 'Solidarity'. He was one of the Solidarity press contacts, and a member of the Solidarity region in Silesia. He was interned with many others during the martial law in Poland. From 1989 to 1991 he was a member of the Polish Senat (Solidarity Citizens' Committee), supporting the left-wing, particularly the Labour Union party and later Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz. Source: wikipedia