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Building the Barricade

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Building the Barricade is a poignant and powerful poetic account of the sixty-three day Warsaw Uprising, told through the eyes of Anna Wirszczyska, a military nurse in the Polish Resistance Home Army. It chronicles the desperate fight against German occupation and the hope to liberate Warsaw from total destruction. The work bears witness to the devastation that consumed over 60% of the city and led to the deaths of over 100,000 civilians and 16,000 resistance fighters amidst the brutal conflict.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in poetry, history, and courageous personal narratives of wartime experience, especially those fascinated by World War II and the Polish Resistance. It appeals to those who value honest and powerful literary testimonies of conflict and resilience.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Building the Barricade, harrowing and demanding, here takes its place in English among the twentieth century's master works of war-witness." - Jane Hirshfield

Building the Barricade is poetry of witness, and a lyric account of the sixty-three day Warsaw uprising.

Caught between German occupation and the advancing Soviets, the Polish Resistance Home Army barricaded central Warsaw in hopes of liberating the city and gaining Polish sovereignty. Building the Barricade is Anna wirszczyska's first-person account of the atrocities that destroyed over 60% of the Polish capital and left over 100,000 civilians and 16,000 Polish resistance fighters dead.

wirszczyska had joined the resistance as a military nurse and later wrote: "Day and night German bombers raged over the capital, burying the living beneath the rubble."

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critically acclaimed, Building the Barricade is hailed by Jane Hirshfield as one of the twentieth century’s master works of war-witness, delivering a harrowing and unembellished history of pain and resilience. Eavan Boland highlights the personal transformation the poem documents, depicting the stark and terrible truths of war through a stripped and truthful voice that profoundly affects both author and reader alike.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781945680687

Publisher: White Pine Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 November 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: White Pine Press

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Translated by Piotr Florczyk
  • Introduction by Eavan Boland

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 215.0mm

Height: 139.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Anna wirszczyska was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1909. She attended Warsaw University where she studied medieval and baroque Polish literature. She began publishing poems in the 1930s. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, wirszczyska joined the Polish Resistance and was a military nurse during the Warsaw Uprising. Anna wirszczyska died in Krakow of cancer in 1984.

Piotr Florczyk is the author of East & West, a volume of poems, Barefoot, a chapbook of poems, and Los Angeles Sketchbook, a collection of brief essays and photographs. He has also translated several books of Polish poetry. He teaches global literary studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.

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