Non-fiction: Churchill, Stone Age women, sons – the best non-fiction books in May

2024-05-01 11:07:54

Our monthly recommendation list appears here. Media partners are “Die Literarische Welt”, RBB Kultur, “NZZ” and Radio Österreich 1. Experts from an independent jury select ten non-fiction books of the month from the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and economics. In May it’s worth:

1. Franziska Augstein:

Winston Churchill. Biography. dtv, 615 pages, 30 euros

Buy “Winston Churchill” online now

There has been no shortage of Churchill biographies in recent years. But with the turning point caused by the war in Ukraine, the legendary British Prime Minister has become relevant again: as a role model of vigilance. Churchill was considered politically dead in the 1930s, but during the Second World War he became prime minister overnight. He had always warned about Hitler.

2. Victoria de Grazia:

The perfect fascist. A story of love, power and violence. Translated by Michael Bischoff. Wagenbach, 508 pages, 38 euros

Buy “The Perfect Fascist” online now

This book about the Mussolini era is likely to become a standard work, precisely because it is not a sober monograph, nor a Mussolini biography, but rather portrays a second-tier partisan. A lot about the nature of fascism can be understood from his career and his failed marriage. Grippingly and pointedly written like a novel. Read a detailed book review here.

3. Tara Zahra:

Against the world. Nationalism and isolation in the interwar period. Translated by Michael Bischoff. Suhrkamp, 445 pages, 36 euros

Buy “Against the World” online now

Tara Zahra teaches as a professor of Eastern European history in Chicago. Her book addresses how the first wave of globalization, which began at the end of the 19th century, came to an end with the First World War and the Spanish flu. And how a rhetoric of “take back control” spread in the 1920s, which still exists today.

4. Hannes Bajohr / Riecke Trimçev:

to Judith N. Shklar. Life, work, present. European Publishing House, 284 pages, 22 euros

Buy “ad Judith N. Shklar” online now

Judith N. Shklar (1928–1992) is considered one of the most important liberal thinkers of the 20th century with her concept of “liberalism of fear”. This book, which is ideal as an introduction, honors his life, work and impact to this day.

5. Marina Münkler:

Dawn of the new era. The dramatic 16th century. Rowohlt Berlin, 539 pages, 34 euros

Fear of Islam, religious wars and exotic things from all over the world: cultural scientist Marina Münkler takes a new look at the 16th century. It sheds light on why it is particularly close to us with its conflicts. Read a detailed review of the book here.

6. Shila Behjat:

Raising sons as a feminist. A debate with myself. Hanser, 200 pages, 23 euros

Buy “Raising Sons…” online now

Life with her two sons turned Berlin author Shila Behjat’s feminism inside out. Especially in progressive circles, the 41-year-old observes an aversion to everything male, which causes her great concern. Read our big interview with Shila Behjat here.

7. Gerd Hankel:

Rwanda 1994 to present. From the forecourt of hell to a model for Africa – truth and appearance in Rwanda. To Klampen Verlag, 174 pages, 18 euros

Buy “Rwanda 1945 to today” online

Rwanda has become a hot spot for outsourced asylum procedures in the debate about European migration policy. But where does the Central African country stand, 30 years after the Hutu genocide against the Tutsi? The journalist and international law expert Gerd Hankel explains.

8. Karin Bojs:

Mothers of Europe. The last 43,000 years. Translated by Erik Gloßmann. CH Beck, 252 pages, 26 euros

Buy “Mothers of Europe” online now

The Venus of Hohlefels or the Venus of Willendorf: Why are the prehistoric depictions of women so full of fat around the waist? And what can new DNA findings tell us about gender relations in the Stone and Bronze Ages? The Swedish journalist Karin Bojs has written a gripping book about archeology, suitable for anyone who has enjoyed the shaman of Bad Dürrenberg.

9. Miriam Meckel / Léa Steinacker:

Everything everywhere at once. How artificial intelligence is changing our world and what we can gain from it. Rowohlt, 400 pages, 26 euros

Buy “Everything, everywhere at once” online

“AI” has become the mega topic of our time. Miriam Meckel (“Brainhacking”) shouldn’t be missing either. Her diagnoses, drawn up together with Lea Steinacker, attempt to take risks and opportunities into account equally.

10. Traudl Bünger:

Iron silence. My father’s assassination attempt. A German family story. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 376 pages, 24 euros

Buy “Iron Silence” online now

This research is the discovery of the season, because the author Traudl Bünger links seemingly unrelated topics (South Tyrol and the Stasi). The story of her right-wing radical father, who took part in bomb attacks in Italy, also contains a previously untold chapter in contemporary German-German history after 1945.

The extra recommendation

In addition to the ten tips from the jury, an additional recommendation comes from a guest every month. This time from Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer (Sinologist, director of the China Center Tübingen). He recommends:

Luo Guanzhong, Shi Naian: Complete Tradition from the Banks of the Rivers. Translated by Rainald Simon. Insel Verlag, 1879 pages, 98 euros

“This work in Bible format, presented entirely in German for the first time, appears as an episodic novel. However, standing in the long Chinese tradition of heroic plays, it can be read as a handbook for the fight against corruption and arbitrariness. The alliance of a rebel army and its fight is directed against the prevailing grievances, which are initially expressed through an epidemic, and against representatives of state power.

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Finally, the federal government – a list of all 738 people appearing can be found on pages 1816 to 1874 – is integrated into the state’s army after a general amnesty and, in the last third of the text, takes on internal and external enemies of the state.

This material, which is still popular in China to this day, opens up insights into the dark sides of state and society, shows how marginal groups arise and unfolds the mechanisms of the political-social emotional balance and at the same time China’s integrative abilities, the extent of which is still unclear they continue to have an impact in the present.” (Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer)

The jury of the non-fiction books of the month

Tobias Becker, “Spiegel”; Eike Gebhardt, Berlin; Knud von Harbou, journalist, Feldafing; Prof. Jochen Hörisch, University of Mannheim; Günter Kaindlstorfer, Vienna; Otto Kallscheuer, Sassari (Italy); Petra Kammann, “Feuilleton Frankfurt”; Jörg-Dieter Kogel, Bremen; Wilhelm Krull, The New Institute, Hamburg; Marianna Lieder, freelance critic, Berlin; Lukas Meyer-Blankenburg, SWR 2 Wissen; Prof. Herfried Münkler, Humboldt University; Gerlinde Pölsler, “Falter”; Marc Reichwein, WELT; Thomas Ribi, “NZZ”; Prof. Sandra Richter, German Literature Archive Marbach; Wolfgang Ritschl, ORF; Florian Rötzer, “Krass & Konkret”; Norbert Seitz, Berlin; Anne-Catherine Simon, “Die Presse”, Vienna; Prof. Philipp Theisohn, University of Zurich; Andreas Wang, Berlin; Harro Zimmermann, Bremen; Stefan Doubt, Switzerland

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