Essential Guide To Being Polish

Anna Spysz, who is both the coauthor and the book's editor, is the former editor-in-chief of the Krakow Post (May 2008-December 2010), Poland's only English-language newspaper. A Polish-born American, she graduated in 2004 from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in English and subsequently moved to Krakow, Poland, where she earned an MA in Central and Eastern European Studies from Jagiellonian University. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Her website is www.annaspysz.com. Marta Turek moved from Poland to the United States as child with her parents, settling first in Chicago and, later, in Seattle. In 1993 she moved back to Poland, where she has been ever since. She has edited English-language texts and taught English as a second language for the past decade on both sides of the Atlantic. Her employers have ranged from ELS Language Centers in Seattle to schools, international companies, and universities in Poland. The holder of an MA in English linguistics from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, she lives in Rokietnica, Poland.

“[A] carefully researched but reader-friendly peregrination through the story of Poland—a thrilling if sometimes depressing ride you wouldn't believe if you read it in a novel. . . . I can say honestly . . . that The Essential Guide to Being Polish will not disappoint.” —Krakow Post“Do you plan to visit Poland for the first time? Are you contemplating a return trip? Do you enjoy reading about other countries and their cultures? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above then you must read The Essential Guide to Being Polish. . . . Once you start reading, you’ll want to read it all.” —Am-Pol Eagle “I invite you on this journey into the depths of the Polish soul.”—from the Foreword by Lech Walesa, former President of Poland“The Essential Guide to Being Polish recounts the political and cultural history of Poland—and, if you will, of Polishness—with a reader-friendly, streamlined clarity that is leavened with wit and timely, amusing turns, but that for all its playfulness never loses sight of the essential complexity of its subject.” —Stuart Dybek, award-winning author of The Coast of Chicago and I Sailed with Magellan

• Part 1: Poland in Context (Geography, Nature, History, Neighbors, Wars, Jews, Communism, Post-communism, Capital city, Language, Legends, Monarchs, Religion, Holidays, Business/Industry.)Part 2: Poles in Poland (Mentality, Home life, Food, Drink, Hospitality, Family, Schools, Names, Shopping, Superstitions, Weddings, Folk traditions, Highlanders, Health, Writers & Poets, Artists, Composers, Music, Film, Cabarate, Scientists, Sports, Men, Women.)Part 3: Poles Abroad (Exile & Emigration, Nationhood, UK, Europe, The Americas, Arts in Emigration, Protest, EU, Vacation, National Pride.)