Poles Apart Cb

First published in 1994. In Poles Apart the author is trying to tell the story of Poland's democratic transition through the personal stories of the men and women that she first met in 1980. She hopes that by focusing on the experience of some of the key players she can expose aspects of the complex arguments surrounding controversial issues such as the imposition of martial law in 1981, the Round Table agreement between Solidarity and the Communist Party (which resulted in the first semi-free election in 1989) as well as examine the factors which precipitated the defeat of the post-Solidarity parties in the September 1993 election.

I Regina's Story 2 The Strikers The Crusaders: Andrzej and Joanna Gwiazda Pania Ania: Anna Walentynowicz Exposing the Fiction: Alina Pienkowska and Bogdan Borusewicz The New Entrepreneur: Bogdan Lis 3 Reluctant Heroism: Jan and Krystyna Litynski 4 Paper Resistance: ZbigniewBujak and the Underground 5 The Round Table Talks: the 'Controlled Operation' That Went Wrong 6 Pluralism at Gunpoint 7 More Circus than Bread 8 General Wojciech Jaruzelski: Polish Patriot or Traitor 9 Janusz Onyszkiewicz: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper 10 And He Shall Reign for Ever and Ever 11 Lech Walesa: the Not So Reluctant Hero 112 The People's Verdict