God's Playground

{{Short description|History book by Norman Davies}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{infobox book

|name = God's Playground

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|image = Gods playground davies book cover.jpg

|image_size = 200px

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|author = Norman Davies

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|country = United Kingdom

|language = English

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|subject = History of Poland

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|publisher = Columbia University Press

|release_date = 1981

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|oclc = 416195288

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God's Playground: A History of Poland is a history book in two volumes written by Norman Davies, covering a 1000-year history of Poland. Volume 1: The origins to 1795, and Volume 2: 1795 to the present first appeared as the Oxford Clarendon Press publication in 1981 and have since been reprinted in multiple times,{{cite book |title=Formats and Editions of God's Playground: A History of Poland |author=WorldCat.org |date=20 December 2017 |oclc=416195288}} and translated into Polish as Boże igrzysko : Historia Polski by Elżbieta Tabakowska (2 volumes in 1, with 1183 pages by Znak Publishers of Kraków).{{cite book |title=Formats and Editions of Boże igrzysko: Historia Polski |author=WorldCat.org |date=20 December 2017 |oclc=60569030}} Davies was inspired to the title by Jan Kochanowski's 1580s poem Boże igrzysko ("Mankind: Bauble of the Gods").

The book, which most editions split into two volumes, has received favourable reviews in the international press, and is considered by many historians"This is a remarkable book... this is a major work that is imaginative, thought-provoking and extremely well written".-- Piotr S. Wandycz, review in The American Historical Review, Vol. 88, No. 2 (April 1983), pp. 436-437, [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1865504 JSTOR]
L. R. Lewitter, review in The Historical Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4 (December 1983), pp. 1032-1034 [http://mc1litvip.jstor.org/pss/2639300 JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120716050408/http://mc1litvip.jstor.org/pss/2639300 |date=16 July 2012 }}
Anna M. Cienciala, review in the Slavic Review, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 510-512, [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2496084 JSTOR] and other scholars to be one of the best English-language books on the subject of the history of Poland. The author received several Polish honours.{{Clarify|date=January 2025}}