Introduction

In late August of 1989, I arrived in Poland for the first of two years of Senior Fulbright Lectureships in American Studies at the University of Łódź. These were years of remarkable political and economic changes in Poland (and throughout the former East Bloc), transformations which interested people everywhere, including folks back in the United…

Dedication

for Dr. John Nemo (1942-1993) The Dean Himself

Upon Awakening from a Dream of Poland

Walk with this woman at your own risk. The touch alone of her hand on your arm will drive you deep into yourself. Lose whole afternoons in baroque cathedrals. Wander confused down cobblestone alleys, through forests of birch and pine, across fields golden with shocked grain. Grow inexplicably fond of beet-root soup. Beware the power…