The paper deals with one of the most important problems of the historiography of the Modern Period of the Central and Southern-Eastern Europe, especially such countries as Belorussia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine in compare with modern Polish historiography and main tendencies of historical studies in the Western Europe and the USA. Resting on the grounds of the common theory of principles of history, the author opposes the “traditional” methodology to the postmodern one. Remaining a follower of the traditional History he admits some achievements of the postmodern historiography that embraces the new challenges as well as deepen and widen some traditional topics. Postmodern methodology has helped countries of the Central and Eastern Europe to overcome the dogmatic legacy of the Communist ideology, although this task remains topical. By analyzing the modern historiography of the post-Soviet countries of the Eastern Europe the author concludes, that the latter, on the one hand, develops within the frameworks of traditional History, but on the other hand, being affected by postmodern methodology, it integrates into the general world system of historical studies.

Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki » 2022 » Issue 2 » Bronisław Piłsudski, Dziennik 1883–1885, oprac. Jolanta Å»yndul, Narodowy Instytut Polskiego Dziedzictwa Kulturowego za GranicÄ POLONIKA, Warszawa 2021, ss. 591 A A A

Zbigniew Opacki, Wydział Humanistyczny Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego w Wilnie 1919–1939. Struktura, kadra, osiÄ gnięcia naukowo-dydaktyczne, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 2021, ss. 714

Argument The monthly magazine Problemy [Problems] became the most successful Polish popular science magazine of the post World W ar II years. Its fate was a miniature reflection of the transformation of Polis h cientific publishing in this period. In spite of the efforts of the editori al board and its renowned authors, politics left a distinct and explicit stam p on the character of the journal, with the political pressure intensifying e very year. What was clearly visible on a national scale , was transposed on the level of editorial board activity into the incessant pressure of so–called p olitical factors, and a permanent war with censorship. The board’s policy w as focused on constant efforts to avoid the recommendations and demands fr om above – largely against the censor’s wishes – and to find its own w ay of being open to the world and focused on the latest scientific achievem ents. In this way Problemy was a specific microcosm of the Polish popularizati on of scientific knowledge, in which the macrocosm of the general situation of science in Poland was reflected. For these reasons Problemy is an excellent source to investigate in detail all the issues concerning the dissemination of science at that time.