Non-fiction leaderboard: These are the best non-fiction books in February

AThe list of recommendations with the greatest distribution in the German-speaking area is published here every month. Media partners are “Literarische Welt”, RBB Kultur, “NZZ” and Radio Österreich 1. Experts choose ten non-fiction books of the month from the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and economics. In February it’s worth:

1. Jerry Z. Muller:

Professor of the Apocalypse. The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes. Translated by Ursula Kömen. Jewish publisher, 927 pages, 58 euros

Jacob Taubes (1923-1987) was a scholar who was surrounded by intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic during his lifetime. This new biography also, and in particular, sheds light on the inner contradictions of the famous Judaist.

2. Hamed Abdel-Samad:

Islam. A critical story. dtv, 317 pages, 24 euros

Hamed Abdel-Samad is once again critical of Islam. According to his findings, Germany lacks the religious institutions for an enlightened Islam. The liberal forces must be strengthened.

3. Philip Staab:

Adjustment. Leitmotif of the next society. Suhrkamp, 240 pages, 18 euros

The sociologist from the HU Berlin sees the modern ideal of shaping the world at an end. Adaptation to natural resources is the order of the day.

4. Wolfgang Kraushaar:

No false tolerance! Why democracy must defend itself more than before. Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 606 pages, 34 euros

The political scientist and researcher on extremism warns of neo-Nazism. This is far from over and poses new challenges for democracy. The book explains how the state and civil society should position themselves.

5. Martin Mulsow:

overreach. Perspectives on a global history of ideas. Suhrkamp, 718 pages, 42 euros

The history of ideas Martin Mulsow is interested in the pre-modern pioneers of globalization of the 17th and 18th centuries: A Hamburg doctor researches Turkish war drugs; the philosopher Leibniz searches for the earliest Chinese characters, and a Jesuit missionary encounters an Eastern hermeticism in Isfahan.

6. Kai Sina:

Transatlantic. Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Gaston Salvatore and their journal for western Germany. Wallstein, 219 pages, 20 euros

When they think of the magazine and Enzensberger, many people think of the legendary “course book”. But another short-lived magazine project says a lot more about Enzensberger’s intellectual esprit. Media historians are already celebrating the “TransAtlantic”.

7. Adom Getajew:

The world after empires. The rise and fall of postcolonial self-determination. Suhrkamp, 448 pages, 34 euros

Are you lying to yourself about the successes of postcolonial self-determination? The political scientist Adom Getachew has looked at how repression and corrupt elites determine the fate of post-colonial nations to this day. And what the former colonies lack.

8. Christian Grataloup:

The history of the world. an atlas. CH Beck, 640 pages, 39.95 euros

A great book because it is visually instructive: Its basic idea is to illustrate the major lines of human global history using maps.

9. Roland Barthes:

Proust. essays and notes. The document of an important literary elective affinity. Translated by Horst Brühmann. Suhrkamp, 343 pages, 28 euros

French intellectual Roland Barthes was one of Marcel Proust’s biggest fans. In his notes, he reveals how to approach “research”. And which passages you can confidently save yourself.

10. Tillmann examiner:

fatherhood. Why we need new fathers more than ever. Kindler, 208 pages, 20 euros

Today there is a lot of discussion about fathers, and yet there is a strange silence. With this book, the journalist Tillmann Prüfer wants to stimulate reflection: What do I want as a father? What should my children get out of it? How do we all become happier?

The extra recommendation

It comes from a guest every month, this time from the historian Achatz von Müller. He recommends:

William Beckford: Dreams, Mind Games and Incidents. Translated and annotated by Wolfram Benda and with an afterword by Norbert Miller. The Other Library (Aufbau Verlag), 351 pages, 44 euros

“He was the richest British aristocrat of his time: William Beckford (1760-1844). At the age of twenty he roamed Central Europe and Italy on his ‘Grand Tour’, inspired by elegant arrogance and enchanting imaginations of beauty. Under the impression of this trip, he wrote his darkly sensual novel “Vathek” shortly thereafter, a cornerstone of ‘black romanticism’ and European ‘Orientalism’. Now, richly annotated and cleverly arranged, the travel diary of this highly talented eccentric, exploring the landscapes of Europe and his own feelings, is finally available in a German translation.” (Achatz von Müller)

The jury of non-fiction books of the month

Tobias Becker, “Spiegel”; Manon Bischoff, “Spectrum of Science”; Natascha Freundel, RBB Culture; Eike Gebhardt, Berlin; Daniel Haufler, Berlin; Knud von Harbou, publicist, 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; Prof. Herfried Münkler, Humboldt University; Gerlinde Pölsler, “Moth”; Marc Reichwein, WORLD; Thomas Ribi, “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”; Prof. Sandra Richter, German Literature Archive Marbach; Wolfgang Ritschl, ORF; Florian Rötzer, “Krass & Concrete”; Norbert Seitz, Berlin; Anne-Catherine Simon, “Die Presse”, Vienna; Prof. Philipp Theisohn, University of Zurich; Andreas Wang, Berlin; Harro Zimmermann, Bremen; Stefan Zweifel, Switzerland.