Book reviews

Kasia Szymanska, PhD, an assistant professor at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester, reviews Rebecca F. Kuang’s “Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution” (2022).

Ferenc Laczó reviews “Homelands”, Timothy Garton Ash’s personal account and interpretation of contemporary Europe, a history book illustrated by memoir. A “post-68er” who is equally accomplished as a historian and as a journalist, and a highly reputed member of the British and European liberal establishments, Garton Ash proceeds chronologically on the book’s pages to cover…

Ivan Tranfi reviews the recent special issue on gender and illiberalism edited by Matthijs Bogaards and Andrea Pető, experts in de-democratization and gender studies from Central European University.

Markus Patberg reviews Jürgen Habermas’s new book Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik [A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics].

Engaging with the difficult task of deconstructing firmly rooted myths, Corner’s main goal is to answer two questions: (1) How far does the affirmation of “many good things” done by Fascism corresponds to the historical reality?; and (2) Why do so many people today share a “permissive memory” of Fascism?

In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Bruce Robbins discusses his newest book Criticism and Politics. A Polemical Introduction.

In a special edition of the RevDem podcast, our editors Laszlo Bruszt, Oliver Garner, Kasia Krzyżanowska, Ferenc Laczo, Michał Matlak, and Renata Uitz discuss their favorite RevDem content, best books and articles they have read, most important political events of 2022 and more. At the end of the episode, they are joined by the authors…

Gabor Scheiring, a head of the Political Economy and Inequalities section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books in political economy of 2022.

Dr Oliver Garner, RevDem editor of the Rule of Law section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books on the rule of law in 2022.

Kasia Krzyżanowska, RevDem editor of the Review of Books section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key books in democracy in literature in 2022.

Ferenc Laczó, editor of the History of Ideas section at the Review of Democracy, presents five key Ideas books in 2022.

What is the EUPL? What is the story behind and what are its aims? Is there a European-wide readership? How to promote European literature? These and more questions are answered by Anne Bergman-Tahon in this conversation with editor Kasia Krzyżanowska.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Peter Brooks — author of the new book Seduced by Story. The Use and Abuse of Narrative — discusses the “storyfication” of reality; explains why we need stories; ponders the impact fiction has on our lives; and depicts the dangers oversimplified narratives pose to our democratic societies.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Karolina Watroba discusses her first book “Mann’s Magic Mountain: World Literature and Closer Reading,” published with Oxford University Press.

A review by Giuseppe Martinico of a book Anti-Constitutional Populism edited by M, Krygier, A. Czarnota, W. Sadurski (Cambridge University Press 2022)

Joseph Weiler describes for us the most important books that shaped his thinking about the world, law and scholarly work.

RevDem Editor Ferenc Laczó reviews Stella Ghervas’ major new monograph Conquering “Peace. From the Enlightenment to the European Union,” a stylishly written, often stimulating, if slightly unusual scholarly monograph. Inspired, among others, by Robert de Traz’s 1936 book De l’alliance des rois à la ligue des peuples, Sainte-Alliance et SDN (From the Alliance of Kings…

Gábor Illés, Research Fellow at the Department for Democracy and Political Theory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, reviews “The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes: A conceptual framework” (CEU Press, 2021) by Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics.

“Tóibín’s book shows the absurdity of the widespread expectation that it is the writer who is supposed to be the nation’s sage, who will point out the right political direction for the state, and who will find the right words to comment on important social events,” writes in her review our editor, Kasia Krzyżanowska.

In this conversation with our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, professor Ewa Thompson discusses the imperialistic features of the Russian Federations; elaborates on how Russian writers advanced the imperial message of Russia, and shows  the persistence of the imperialistic motifs in the Russian literature. 

In conversation with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Stefan Auer discusses his new book European Disunion. Democracy, Sovereignty, and the Politics of Emergency (Hurst&Company 2022). In a conversation, he points out to the EU hubris, discusses crises that hit the EU recently, puts into a broader context Russian invasion of Ukraine, and shares his scepticism on…

In a conversation with our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska, Kacper Pobłocki discusses his recent book Chamstwo and reflects on how Polish society was historically based on violence; elaborates on the historical sources of the name “Cham”; compares Polish predicament with other European states and discusses current state of the academia.

Julian Scholtes, a lecturer in EU and Public Law at Newcastle University, reviews “Filtering Populist Claims to Fight Populism: The Italian Case in Comparative Perspective” by Giuseppe Martinico, “a wonderfully written in-depth analysis of the constitutional dimensions of populism in Italy.”

Simone Weil’s figure poses a challenge to each reader of hers. In this conversation, our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska speaks to prof. Robert Zarestky (professor at the University of Houston), about the heroine of his recently published biography: Simone Weil.

In this conversation with our editor, Kasia Krzyżanowska, Dr. Signe Larsen talks about the (largely unacknowledged) nature of the EU as a federation, varieties of constitutionalism within EU Member States, and the impact of colonial legacies on the EU.

Our editors Kasia Krzyzanowska and Michal Matlak have selected 5 books that encourage a better understanding of the aggressor: Vladimir Putin and the system he has created.

newest book “Politics of Stigmatization. Poland as a Latecomer in the European Union” (Palgrave Macmillan 2021). The interview touches on the political equality of Member States within the EU, the stigma of a latecomer applied to Poland (and other Eastern European countries), and the discursive hierarchy inside the EU.

nce the Russian invasion started on 24th February, two thousands of civilians have already died because of Russian missiles shot indiscriminately at Ukrainian cities and towns. However, the armed conflict begun much earlier, when Russia annexed Crimea and started its occupation of the Eastern part of Ukraine in 2014. Our editor Kasia Krzyżanowska has selected…

In this interview, Agnė Rimkutė discusses with Raquel Varela the importance of seeing the working classes as actors in the historical process and the implications of people’s history for our understanding of democracy.

Dirk Moses in conversation with Ferenc Laczo on his last book “The Problems of Genocide. Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression”.

“More often than not, we get the sense that events are unfolding in the background, often detached from individuals, and that yet they will somehow influence individual lives” says Dr Elise Hugueny-Léger, Senior Lecturer in French at the University of St Andrews, in this interview with Kasia Krzyżanowska.

Gábor Scheiring reviews „Taking stock of shock. Social consequences of the 1989 revolutions” by Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell Orenstein

Gráinne de Búrca, Jan Kubik, Jeffrey Isaac, and Karolina Wigura comment on the new book by Jan Werner Müller. Afterwards the author responds to the commentators.

The Light that Failed: A Reckoning fails to deliver a fresh interpretation which would venture beyond the traditional liberal mantra. It is a representation of the contemporary deadlock of Western liberalism.

Our editor, Katarzyna Krzyżanowska, reviews a book by Aviezer Tucker “Democracy Against Liberalism” published by Polity Press, 2020

Katarzyna Krzyżanowska talks with Robert Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, on epistemology of democracy.

Artur Domoslawski, the author of a monumental Zygmunt Bauman’s biography in conversation with our managing editor, Michał Matlak

Few concepts have been declared dead and buried more often than neoliberalism. However, it continues to survive. Neoliberal Resilience, Aldo Madariaga’s award-winning book, shows how. Review by Gabor Scheiring.

Ferenc Laczo reviews “After the Fall. Being American in the World We’ve Made” by Ben Rhodes.

Our editor Michal Matlak reviews the secret diary of Michel Barnier, former EU chief Brexit negotiator and potential French presidential candidate.

Gabor Scheiring reviews the book by Fabio Mattioli “Dark Finance. Illiquidity and Authoritarianism at the Margins of Europe”

Who are really the masters of the EU treaties and where does constituent power in the European Union lie — Markus Patberg, interviewed by Kasia Krzyżanowska, offers his answers to these questions.

David Stasavage (New York University) in conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczo (Maastricht University) about his recent book “The Decline and Rise of Democracy”, which presents the global history of democracies since ancient times.

Our editor-in-chief Laszlo Bruszt asks Adam Przeworski about the contemporary relevance of “Sustainable democracy”, a seminal book published 25 years ago.

On the 3rd of May, the Georgetown University Press will publish “After the End of History. Conversation with Francis Fukuyama”. Our editor Ferenc Laczo from Maastricht University reviews the volume.

Lozada’s book offers an answer to the problem of how we discursively resisted Trump’s presidency. Review by Katarzyna Krzyżanowska