About this item
Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish-Lithuanian born in 1746, was one of the most important figures of the modern world. Fleeing his homeland after a death sentence was placed on his head when he dared court a woman above his station, he came to America one month after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, literally showing up on Benjamin Franklins doorstep in Philadelphia with little more than a revolutionary spirit and a genius for engineering. Entering the fray as a volunteer in the war effort, he quickly proved his capabilities and became the most talented engineer of the Continental Army. Kosciuszko went on to construct the fortifications for Philadelphia, devise battle plans that were integral to the American victory at the pivotal Battle of Saratoga, and designed the plans for Fortress West Point--the same plans that were stolen by Benedict Arnold.
About the Author
Alex Storozynski is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a former member of the New York Daily News editorial board, founding editor of amNewYork and former city editor of the New York Sun. He has also been published in the European edition of The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Newsday and other publications.His biography of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Era of Revolution, will be published in April 2009 by St. Martin's Press, and his essay "From Serfdom to Freedom: Polish Catholics Find A Refuge," was published in 2008 in the book Catholics in New York, Society Culture, and Politics, 1808-1946, to coincide with the exhibit on Catholics at the Museum of the History of New York.Storozynski has also served as chairman and vice-chairman of the Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union, which has more than $1 billion in assets and 70,000 members, making it the largest ethnic credit union in the United States. He is a frequent guest on New York's Polish radio stations and a contributor to Polskie Radio 1, the largest radio station in Poland.From 1985-87, Storozynski was a post-graduate fellow at the University of Warsaw, during which time he worked as a researcher for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe, interviewing Lech Walesa and other Solidarity activists who helped overturn Communism in Eastern Europe. He has a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz.Storozynski was also the editor of Empire State Report, the magazine of politics and public policy in New York, and has written speeches for Democrats and Republicans in state politics.In 2006, Storozynski traveled to Iraq to write about the Polish troops running the multinational zone in the provinces of Diwaniyah and Wasit near the Iranian border. More recently he interviewed Polish President Lech Kaczynski for the New York Sun.In 2004, the Polish magazine Przeglad called Storozynski "a new type of leader in the Polish community," and even though he was born in Brooklyn, they named him one of the "100 most influential Poles living abroad." In 2005, Polish-American World named him "Man of the Year." In 2006, the President of Poland awarded him with the "Gold Cross of Service" for his articles about Poland. And in 2007 the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C. awarded him for his "distinguished achievement in the field of journalism."In 1991, Columbia University sent him to lecture at Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He has given lectures about Kosciuszko at West Point, the University of Detroit and Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Michigan. Over the years he has appeared in various radio and television broadcasts in New York and Europe.While at the Daily News Storozynski wrote editorials and op-ed columns on complex public policy
