"In Bitter Glory, Richard M. Watt tells the story of the independent Poland of 1918-1939. He also gives the definitive account in English of the dominant figure in this story, the Polish freedom fighter and strongman Józef Piłsudski. Watt describes the underground warfare Piłsudski waged against czarist rule; how the Poles deftly exploited World War I to achieve independence; the problems that racked the new state; the country's drift toward fascism; and its debacle at the hands of the Nazis, in which Poland lost its freedom. " --