Actually, the odds are slim that you would just happen to know much about that but I'll ask anyway: do you happen to know of some non-Polish books about history of Poland?

I don't have any title recommendations for you. My suggestion would be to approach it from another angle: Poland as a country is very interesting to Poles, but not so much to other cultures outside of Poland. However, Slavic languages and their history, permutations, and changes over time, is a rich area of research (linguistics) that is interesting to a very broad group of people.

So I would suggest that you research the history and development of the Slavic languages, if you want to learn more about Poland and the Polish people.

Surprisingly, and despite popular stereotype, religion does not seem to have much sway on most things related to schools...

I am quite opposed to most forms of organized religion. But the study of history is the study of religion. You cannot separate the two topics. A good place to start is Who Wrote The Bible? which is an investigative look into the Bible and biblical history. The scientific approach they take to dissecting the different authors, timeframes when certain parts were written, the politics of the times and motivations of the writers, etc, is one of the best detective stories ever!

Near the end the author makes some pretty big leaps to try and come up with a whopper ending for the book (by trying to actually name a specific author of one part of the Bible), but overall this is a fantastic book that takes an in-depth look at how religions get constructed.

It's a well-written book that is fun to read, but also provides some amazing insights into several of the world's main religions. And it provides you with the tools you need to critically examine other sources and information you come across when looking at Polish history.

Good luck with it!