WORLD leaderboard: These are the best non-fiction books of July 2022

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

1. Dipesh Chakrabarty:

The climate of history in the planetary age. Translated by Christine Pries. Suhrkamp, 443 pages, 32 euros

The Indian historian Dipesh Chakrabarty is one of the most internationally influential scientists who have dealt with the significance of climate change. Here he thinks about how human thinking and life should be shaped in the future.

2. Thomas Großbölting:

The guilty shepherds. History of Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. Herder, 288 pages, 24 euros

For the first time, a book brings together the history of those affected, perpetrators and cover-ups of the abuse scandal. And it analyzes the fatal ecclesiastical structures that made the deeds possible.

3. Irene Vallejo:

Papyrus. The history of the world in books. Translated by Maria Meinel and Luis Ruby. Diogenes, 746 pages, 28 euros

With popular verve, the Spanish cultural historian leads through an invention that digitalization can no longer improve: the book as a material object.

4. Mary Beard:

Twelve Caesars. Faces of Power from Antiquity to the Modern Age. Translated by Ulrike Bischoff. Propylaea, 528 pages, 36 euros

The British ancient historian is known for her feminist-focused perspectives on Roman history. In her latest work, she focuses on the life and afterlife of the Roman emperors.

5. Serhii Plokhy:

The front line. Why Ukraine became the scene of a new East-West conflict. Translated by Stephan Gebauer, Thorsten Schmidt, Gregor Hens, Ulrike Bischoff and Stephan Kleiner. Rowohlt, 543 pages, 30 euros

The author is a Harvard historian of Ukrainian history. His book examines the narrative of the Russian attack on Ukraine and explains Russia’s centuries-old claims to being a great power.

6. Pierre Charbonnier:

abundance and freedom. An ecological history of political ideas. Translated by Andreas Hemminger. S. Fischer, 506 pages, 36 euros

The environment and capitalism have been in competition with one another since the 17th century. In this book, the French philosopher asks how the idea of renunciation could help us today.

7. Winfried Nerdinger/Wilhelm Vossenkuhl (eds.):

Otl Aicher. designers. typographer. Thinker. Prestel, 256 pages (with 200 illustrations), 49 euros.

Federal Republican design has never been so skillful – and so iconic. This illustrated book was published in memory of the pictogram designer Otl Aicher, who was born 100 years ago (including the 1972 Olympic Games; Lufthansa).

8. Francois Jullien:

live existing. A new ethic. Translated by Daniel Fastner. Verlag Matthes & Seitz, 240 pages, 32 euros

The French philosophy professor and sinologist asks why philosophy has become so abstract over the centuries – and how it could find its way back to Far Eastern wisdom.

9. Ian Morris:

Geography is destiny. Power struggle between Britain, Europe and the world – a 10000 year history. Translated by Stephan Gebauer. Campus, 656 pages, 32 euros

Ian Morris is a historian and archaeologist. His book is interesting for everyone who loves long-term geostrategic questions.

10. Paul Mason:

fascism. And how to stop it. Translated by Stephan Gebauer. Suhrkamp, 443 pages, 20 euros

A political science essay that observes authoritarian developments in various countries based on the rise of right-wing populists and right-wing extremists. The reader must draw the lines of connection to the new Russian fascism (“racism”) himself.

The extra recommendation:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bormuth (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg) recommends:

Katja Petrovskaya: The photo looked at me. Suhrkamp, 256 pages, 25 euros

“Since ‘Maybe Esther’, Katja Petrowskaja has been considered the literary voice from the Ukraine who writes cosmopolitan history in the German language. Her iconographic essays, which combine image and word in many layers, connect to the Jewish family epic.

The collection complements photographic fragments to create historical miniatures of thoughtfulness. The magic and horror of reality, as encountered in photos over the years, awaken an imagination that, in writing, thanks the congenial eye of pictorial art. With rare urgency, Petrovskaya celebrates the frail beauty of life and the spirit of freedom, often on the brink of possible destruction.” (Matthias Bormuth)

The jury for the “Non-Fiction 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.