The book is, above all, an invitation to discover our history in its full complexity and glory. Because half of the history is simply not enough.
Why do we not know the history of women? „The Missing Half of History” by Anna Kowalczyk is a book that changes perception of Polish history and its unknown heroines.
What percentage of history textbooks are descriptions of battles and wars, and how much space is there for the history of private, social and economic life? Where are all the women who were living here before us? Why do we know almost nothing about them? And is there really nothing to talk about?
Aleksandra Piłsudska, a revolutionist, whose story is a ready made script for an action movie. Three first female students to boldly enter the Jagiellonian University, despite the outrage. The legendary Nawoyka, dressed like a boy to be able to go and study a few centuries before them. Magdalena Mortęska, a fierce nun who can be considered one of the first Polish emancipated women. Agnieszka Truskolaska called „the mother of the National Stage”, for a reason. Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska – a first female doctor who saved thousands of women from death in puerperium. The list is long, and history textbooks, focused on political and military events, keep silent about them.
Meanwhile, the history of women in Poland is fascinating. It is a story of hard-won rights, defeats, daring victories, strength and determination. Not only of exceptional individuals, but also thousands of anonymous women and groups – nuns, saints, sex workers, noblewomen, soldiers, peasants, artists, revolutionaries, writers, governesses, conspirators, traders, students, housewives, doctors and many more heroines of everyday life. Anna Kowalczyk, based on the latest research and assisted by outstanding historians and archaeologists, for the first time on the Polish publishing market, guides the reader through all eras – from pre-Christian times to the present day. She brings out forgotten „sheroes” from the dark corners of history and daringly debunks the stereotypes that still exist today. Her book is an extraordinary journey into Polish history – an unknown „half of it”. Its – so far silent – actresses raise their voices and unexpectedly become very close to each one of us, not only women and girs. As French historian Michelle Perrot once wrote, „History without women seems impossible”.
It is impossible, indeed.
