Aleksandra Piłsudska

Although this purports to be a biography of Poland's interwar strongman Jozef Pilsudski, it more closely resembles the memoirs of his wife, two different propositions. We're 100 pages in before Pilsudski even gets a mention, aside from quoting a few platitudes which she found among his effects. After she describes her escape from the country during the 1939 invasion and relates her childhood memories, then she tells of her days as an anti-Russian revolutionary, which has a trifle more intersection with Pilsudski, but not much; only then do we get a political and military biography. She is a capable writer, but few people will be that interested in all this; Pilsudski was one of the world's most important figures in his day, but popular interest has waned, and the book is too hagiographical to be of much use to scholars.… (mais)