The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution

Around several other books, the holidays and work, I completed my initial read of "The Peasant Prince". It was one of the best books I've read on a subject of this nature. The quality of the research and readability of the work have few equals.I have at least four other works about and numerous references to General Kosciuszko in my library, but no work better brought the spirit and personality of this great Pole and American to life as this work has done. My impression is that the author has an even handed style, sense of culture and quality of research that recreated the General as a real human being in the context of his times as few others could have done.The author does not hide from General Kosciuszko's human side. But he weaves the tapestry of the facts of his remarkable life into a well paced story that keeps the reader engaged differently than many biographies I've read. In my case, this is particularly true because the author brings into bold relief the profile of a thoroughgoing professional soldier who possessed an unswerving respect for the dignity and right to liberty of all men and women and tempered that love of his fellow man by an unquenchable love of country. Yet, the author makes clear that the General was imbued with an unusually advanced sense of systems and the possible tethered to reality--but not enough that he would not risk everything for what he believed in. As Mr. Storozynski documents, General Kosciuszko put himself at risk of his life more than once for these beliefs.How Mr. Storozynski brings alive the many selfless aspects of the General's character, his philanthropy , especially toward those acts that he as a visionary sensed would advance the liberty, quality of life and creativeness of all men , is a facet of the man too many today may not know. Today's Pole and American do need to have this sense of him. His view of education alone was well beyond his times.I'm still working through the impressions the book made on me--all positive. The book was worth every minute of my time and some sections I will likely read again.There are so many beautifully crafted passages of the work that I am reviewing in my mind--but one as a person of Polish heritage that is so poignant it brought quite a personal reaction because it spoke to everything the man was, needs to be mentioned. The little vignette of Poles in a Russian regiment reaching the outskirts of Paris and foraging when confronted by the old peasant who addressed them in Polish admonishing them for taking from the helpless--the officers coming forward and asking who he thought he was to take such liberties and receiving the answer--"I am Kosciuszko." The reaction of the soldiers as the author describes it was to me the essence of the entire book and the man. Even in that humble self effacing guise--Kosciuszko would put himself at risk to stop a wrong to those who could not defend or protect themselves. But more to the point--by the immediate response of the soldiers some 21 years after he commanded the Polish Army of the uprising, it was clear that this man was the Polish nation in spirit. These young Polish soldiers paid instant homage to this selfless hero of Poland. And the French peasants so respected him as a friend and citzen that they would risk themselves.That sense of this man that Mr. Storozynski so beautifully creates in his work once again brings him to a living generation of Poles, Americans and the world in such way that we can appreciate a very brave, good and selfless champion of human liberty. One who, through his seven years of storied service in the Continental Army during the American War of Independence, may well be one of the singular authors of our individual and collective liberty some two hundred years later.May we not squander his gift. Thomas R. Rozman (Rozmys³owicz)

A well written history and excellent book about a genuine hero.Kosciuszko designed the blueprints for West Point which Benedict Arnold stole + sold to the British. He planned the strategy for the first US win and turning point of the American Revolution near Saratoga, NY. He received a tomahawk/peace pipe from a major Native American tribe as a sign of appreciation for standing up for their rights. He allocated his US military salary to buy African slaves to free them.Thomas Jefferson called Kosciuszko, 'As pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.' Ben Franklin and George Washington regularly praised his resourcefulness + strategy in the revolutionary war for American freedom.In Poland, he led a revolution to free the peasants from serfdom and was joined by a former Haitian slave named Jean Lapierre to free white serf-slaves ('chlopy' or field boys as they were known in Poland). The Jewish started a 'Bearded cavalry' to fight along side him and called him 'a messenger from God.'Likewise in France, the French Revolutionaries made him an honorary 'Citizen of France' and Napoleon Bonaparte called Kosciuszko 'the hero of the North.'Kosciuszko stood up for the rights of people that were disenfranchised. He did not just talk, he acted.It's a little known fact that after George Washington, there are more statues in the USA of Thaddeus Kosciuszko than any other American historical figure (including the tallest one at West Point, where it is popular among cadets to propose marriage). Every day, millions of NYers cross the Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens.What a great book about a fantastic person whose values are as noble as they come. Thank you Alex Storozynski for bringing his history to light; what a great story!

Sixty years ago, American history books mentioned Kosciuszko, Pulaski, Lafayette and von Steuben in a single sentence as Europeans who came to the Americas to fight for our independence. As junior high school students we did not deliberate on their motives. But in this book Alex Storozynski brings to life the idealism, intelligence and courage of this true patriot, Thaddeus Kosciuszko. Impoverished nobleman, derailed lover, frustrated knight-errant, he came to America with a solid military background. He had the intelligence to remain above the bickering of his superiors and the persistence to see his recommendations carried out, especially in the defenses around West Point. Later in the Revolutionary War he assisted General Greene in wreaking attrition to the army of General Cornwallis. He had the mutual respect of Generals Washington, Gates and Greene.Again, in the 1950s our courses in Western Civ gave short shrift to the history of Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Lithuania, so the events described in the second part of the book, where Kosciuszko returns to his native country, unfamiliar. Storozynski details the chaos of hammering out the world's second written constitution, only to be crushed by the perfidy of greedy Polish nobles and the fears of the autocrats ruling Russia, Prussia and Austria. Kosciuszko plays a secondary role in all this, defending his effete king in a vain attempt to slow the onslaught of the Russians.I think that the reader would benefit by reading a synopsis of eighteenth and early nineteenth century Poland before taking up this biography, but even so, it is a fascinating story about a remarkable man.

This Book is an absolute must for anyone with a Polish background or who wishes to understand a critical period in Polish history that was to shape its future and who will then understand the geopolitical issues facing Poland today. It is well researched but easy to read. Every Pole should read this book,

If you can deal with the vernacular style and an occasional minor mistake (Dubno and Dubinka transposed on one occasion), the book is a good biography. Unlike other books on Kosciuszko, which tend to focus more either on his American career or on his Polish career, this book balances both quite well. Kosciuszko's significant contribution to American War of Independence is well presented. An interesting aspect of the story is the contrast between the American War of Independence and the Polish wars of 1792-1794 explaining well why Poles failed where Americans succeeded: Americans were up against relatively small British armies (1500-7000 men) while Russia alone invaded Poland in 1794 with an army of 94,000.

This hard to put down history of a fascinating time both in America and Poland is by far the most colourful and readable from the Polish perspective of any book I have read. Alex Storozynski is a master storyteller if not an always accurate historian.

A good book about history

Als die Franzosen ihn 1792 (zusammen mit Schiller, Klopstock, Pestalozzi und Washington) zum Ehrenbürger machten, wussten sie, was sie taten. Der amerikanische Kongress hatte den Helden des Revolutionskrieges schon vorher zum Ehrenbürger gemacht. Und die Polen machen ihn zum Naczelnic, zum Oberkommandierenden im Freiheitskampf gegen die Russen. Die Rede ist von Thaddeus Kosciuszko, den in seiner Zeit beinahe jeder in Amerika und Europa kannte. In Amerika kennt man ihn noch, in Polen kennt man ihn natürlich auch, aber es ist ein anderer Konsciuszko. Er war ein großer Mann, und es könnte nicht schaden, wenn man ihn heute noch kennen würde. Aber leider gibt es nicht die richtig guten Bücher über ihn, seit Constantin Karl Falkenstein 1827 die erste Biographie über den polnischen Freiheitshelden schrieb. Das Buch von Alex Storozynski ist ein netter Versuch, den amerikanischen Brigadegeneral und den polnischen Naczelnik aus der Vergangenheit in das Heute zu retten. Es ist flüssig geschrieben, und es dokumentiert alle Quellen. Und es ist wohl, mangels des idealen Buches, und weil es das zur Zeit einzig lieferbare Buch ist, das Buch, das den amerikanischen Markt gut bedient. "A sweeping, colorful and absorbing biography that should restore Kosciuszko to his proper place in history", hat "Newsweek" geschrieben. Es ist leider nicht das Buch eines Historikers von Rang, sondern das Buch eines Journalisten. Und man hätte sich eigentlich gewünscht, dass ein Historiker wie Simon Schama oder David Hackett Fischer (oder irgendjemand aus dieser Liga) sich des Themas angenommen hätte. Die können leichtverständlich schreiben und sich klar ausdrücken, aber diese Leichtigkeit des Stil täuscht immer ein wenig. Hinter dem Ganzen steckt noch viel mehr, eine Gelehrsamkeit im Detail, die der Autor uns ersparen will. Macaulay empfahl seinen historischen Zunftgenossen, die historischen Romane von Sir Walter Scott als Vorbild ihres Schreibens zu nehmen. Storozynski schreibt auch einen leichtverständlichen Stil, aber bei ihm ist nichts an historischer Gelehrsamkeit hinter diesen Sätzen, die auf dem Papier stehen. Und leider präsentiert dies Buch, und da ist es wohl ganz klar auf den amerikanischen Markt kalkuliert, beinahe nur den amerikanischen Kosciuszko. Der Rest des Lebens ist, wie Newsweek sagt, "sweeping". Es ist leider eine verpasste Chance. Wie wäre es, Professor Schama? Wollten Sie nicht schon immer mal über Thaddeus Kosciuszko schreiben?