Editing Paweł Jasienica (section)

==Work==
Jasienica book publishing begun with a historical book, ''Zygmunt August na ziemiach dawnego Wielkiego Księstwa'' (Sigismund Augustus in the lands of the former Grand Duchy; 1935). He is best known for his highly acclaimed<ref name="PolonskyMichlic2004">{{cite book|first1=Antony |last1=Polonsky |first2=Joanna B. |last2=Michlic |title=The neighbors respond: the controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfeGB5yz0ooC&pg=PA82|access-date=4 March 2011|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-11306-7|page=82}}</ref> and popular<ref name=ipnbio /> historical books from the 1960s about [[Piast Poland]], [[Jagiellon Poland]] and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]: ''Polska Piastów'' (Piast Poland, 1960), ''Polska Jagiellonów'' (Jagiellon Poland, 1963) and the trilogy ''Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów'' (The Commonwealth of Both Nations, 1967–1972). This trilogy made him one of the most popular Polish history writers.<ref name=ipnbio /> Throughout his life he avoided writing about [[modern history]], to minimize the influence that the official, communist [[Marxist]] [[historiography]] would have on his works. This was also one of the reasons for the popularity of his works, which were seen as a rare, legally obtainable alternative to the official version of history.<ref name=ipnbio /><ref name="Trencsényi2007" /><ref name="Velychenko1993" /><ref name="Davies2005" /> His books, publication of which resumed once again after his death, were labeled as "best-selling", and became the most reprinted postwar history of Poland.<ref name="Velychenko1993" /><ref name="Davies2005">{{Cite book|first=Norman |last=Davies |year=2005 |title=God's Playground: The origins to 1795 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/godsplaygroundhi00norm_0/page/14 14] |isbn=978-0-231-12817-9}}</ref>

His {{lang|pl|Dwie drogi|italic=yes}} (Two ways, 1959) about the [[January Uprising]] of the 1860s represent the latest historical period he has tackled. His other popular historical books include {{lang|pl|Trzej kronikarze|italic=yes}}, (Three chroniclers; 1964), a book about three medieval chroniclers of Polish history ([[Thietmar of Merseburg]], [[Gallus Anonymus]] and [[Wincenty Kadłubek]]), in which he discusses the Polish society through ages;<ref name=hs /> and {{lang|pl|Ostatnia z rodu|italic=yes}} (Last of the Family; 1965) about the last queen of the Jagiellon dynasty, [[Anna Jagiellonka]]. His {{lang|pl|Rozważania o wojnie domowej|italic=yes}} (1978; Thoughts on Civil War) were the last book he has finished; unlike the majority of his other works, this book is ostensibly about the civil war ([[Chouannerie]]) in [[Brittany]], France. This work does however contains numerous arguments applicable to more modern Polish history; arguments that Jasienica thought would not be allowed by the censors if the book discussed Polish history.<ref name=wyborcza />

In addition to historical books, Jasienica, wrote a series of essays about archeology – {{lang|pl|Słowiański rodowód|italic=yes}} (Slavic genealogy; 1961) and {{lang|pl|Archeologia na wyrywki. Reportaże|italic=yes}} (Archeological excerpts: reports; 1956), journalistic travel reports ({{lang|pl|Wisła pożegna zaścianek, Kraj Nad Jangtse|italic=yes}}) and science and technology ({{lang|pl|Opowieści o żywej materii, Zakotwiczeni|italic=yes}}). Those works were mostly created around the 1950s and 1960s.

His {{lang|pl|Pamiętnik|italic=yes}} (Memoirs) was the work that he began shortly before his death, and that was never completely finished.

In 2006, Polish journalist and former dissident [[Adam Michnik]] said that:
{{blockquote|I belong to [[1968 Polish political crisis|the generation '68]], a generation that has special debt to Paweł Jasienica – in fact he paid with his life for daring to defend us, the youth. I want for somebody to be able to write, at some point, that in my generation there were people who stayed true to his message. Those who never forgot about his beautiful life, his wise and brave books, his terrible tragedy.<ref name=wyborcza />}}

Polish historian [[Henryk Samsonowicz]] echoes Michnik's essay in his introduction to a recent (2008) edition of ''Trzej kronikarze'', describing Jasienica as a person who did much to popularize Polish history.<ref name=hs /> Hungarian historian [[Balázs Trencsényi]] notes that "Jasienica's impact of the formation of the popular interpretation of Polish history is hard to overestimate".<ref name="Trencsényi2007">{{Cite book|first=Balázs |last=Trencsényi |title=Narratives unbound: historical studies in post-communist Eastern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jzbtNcLEkMC&pg=PA111|access-date=4 March 2011|year=2007|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-963-7326-85-1|page=111}}</ref> British historian [[Norman Davies]], himself an author of a popular account of Polish history (''[[God's Playground]]''), notes that Jasienica, while more of "a historical writer than an academic historian", had "formidable talents", gained "much popularity" and that his works would find no equals in the time of communist Poland.<ref name="Davies2005" /> Samsonowicz notes that Jasienica "was a brave writer", going against prevailing system, and willing to propose new hypotheses and reinterpret history in innovative ways.<ref name=hs /> Michnik notes how Jasienica was willing to write about Polish mistakes, for example in the treatment of [[Cossacks]].<ref name=wyborcza /> Ukrainian historian [[Stephen Velychenko]] also positively commented on Jasienica's extensive coverage of the Polish-Ukrainian history.<ref name="Velychenko1993">{{cite book|first=Stephen |last=Velychenko |title=Shaping identity in Eastern Europe and Russia: Soviet-Russian and Polish accounts of Ukrainian history, 1914–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiT6qkosoL0C&pg=PA96|access-date=4 March 2011|year=1993|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-08552-0|page=96}}</ref> Both Michnik and Samsonowicz note how Jasienica's works contain hidden messages in which Jasienica discusses more contemporary history, such as in his ''Rozważania...''.<ref name=wyborcza /><ref name=hs /><ref name="Kula2004">{{Cite book|first=Marcin |last=Kula |title=Krótki raport o użytkowaniu historii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXmRAAAAIAAJ|access-date=6 June 2011|year=2004|publisher=Wydawn. Naukowe PWN|isbn=978-83-01-14227-8|pages=100–101}}</ref>