The three-part work provides a first synthetic account of the history of the Polish intelligentsia from the days of its formation to World War I. The third part deals with the period between 1865 and 1918. It is the period of numerical growth of the intelligentsia, growth of its self-consciousness and at the same time of growing struggles and rivalries of various political streams. The study concludes with the moment when Poland regained the independence that had been lost in 1795. The work combines social and intellectual history, tracing both the formation of the intelligentsia as a social stratum and the forms of engagement of the intelligentsia in the public discourse. Thus, it offers a broad view of the group's transformations which immensely influenced the course of the Polish history.

Jerzy Jedlicki is Professor emeritus at the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences where he was head of the research group for the history of intelligentsia. He also was fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.
Magdalena Micinska is Professor at the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Contents: Birth of the Intelligentsia - After the partitions of Poland: Intellectuals in a divided state - Modern state institutions and the intellectuals - Insurrections or gradual change? - The intelligentsia's sense of mission - After 1863: reactions to the national catastrophe - Intelligentsia and the modern party politics (turn of 19 and 20 centuries) - Early 20 century: intelligentsia and the growth of mass society.