The Passion of Poland: From Solidarity to the State of War; The Polish Revolution: Solidarity; The Polish Challenge

The proliferation of books on Poland's extended period of relative freedom in 1980-1981 continues. The book by Timothy Garton Ash, a British journalist, is the product of good background knowledge and first-hand witness of what was happening within Solidarity, within the regime, and in the society. As a bonus the author adds an arresting chapter on the West's reaction to the Polish events. In The Polish Challenge, one of the BBC's foreign correspondents tells his story largely on the basis of material from the Polish and other East European media; the result is one of the most factual and complete accounts available. Weschler's book, also very detailed, consists of his reports done for The New Yorker between May 1981 and September 1983.