What to read after Józef Piłsudski?

Jozef Pilsudski personified Poland from its resurrection in 1918 until his death in 1935. Successively convicted terrorist, socialist agitator, cavalry officer, field marshal and vanquisher of Trotsky's Red Army, democratic president and dictator he became the embodiment of Polish nationalism Pilsudski is still an attractive figure to modern Central European nationalists, representing the virtues of military and moral strength to a new generation of re-emerging countries. In the Baltic States, in Poland itself, in the Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, Pilsudski's is a potent myth. This is the first scholarly study of the man to have come out of Poland for two generations. It is an edited translation by John Coutouvidis of Professor Andrzej Garlicki's major biography, which could not be published in Poland until the Soviet grip had been loosened. It is not only a gripping story of a great man's life, but also an important work of new European scholarship, a major contribution to twentieth century history, and a unique insight into the myths and symbols of Slav nationalism, a re-emerging European historical force.