RevDem Podcast

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Viet Thanh Nguyen – author of the new book A Man of Two Faces. A Memoir, A History, A Memorial – reflects on the ambiguities and contradictions of growing up Vietnamese-American in the aftermath of what is called the Vietnam War in the US; explains what motivated him to seek a new balance between remembering and forgetting in his new book; shares his ethical considerations regarding the revelation of secrets; shows why self-representation is not enough; and discusses how his dialectic Marxism wavers between Groucho and Karl. Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Thanh Việt) is a Vietnamese-American professor and novelist. He is the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He is the author of the scholarly monograph Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War and the novel The Sympathizer, among several other books. A Man of Two Faces. A Memoir, A History, A Memorial has been published by Grove Press.   In collaboration with Lucie Hunter.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Mirjam Zadoff – director of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism and author of Gewalt und Gedächtnis: Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert –discusses what motivated her to publish a collection on global memory and which key themes she wanted to address; how the explorations and reflection on key remembrance sites from across the globe have impacted her perspective on German and European trends; why she considers it so important to emphasize transnational and transcultural links; what are the shortcomings of Germany’s often-praised memory culture; and which examples of remembrance she considers particularly inspiring and capable of fostering a culture of responsibility. Mirjam Zadoff is the director of the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. Gewalt und Gedächtnis: Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert has been published by Hanser. In collaboration with Lucie Hunter.

In this conversation with Lorena Drakula and Ferenc Laczó, Volodymyr Ishchenko – author of the new collection, Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War – explains how the study of contemporary Ukraine could contribute to our understanding of globally relevant processes. He reflects on the main political cleavage in the country and how the relationship between the various camps has evolved; and shows what led to the “deficient revolutions” in early 21st-century Ukraine and what have been their main outcomes. Finally, he discusses what he sees as the driving force behind the authoritarian tendencies in the country. Volodymyr Ishchenko is a research associate at the Institute of East European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.  Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War is published by Verso.

In a conversation with Kasia Krzyżanowska, Bécquer Seguin discusses his book “The Op-Ed Novel. A Literary History of Post-Franco Spain” (Harvard University Press, 2023). He elaborates on the concept of the op-ed novel, explains the idea of literary populism, advocates for the engagement of novelists in the public debates of historical and national meaning, and discusses some most noteworthy examples of Spanish op-ed novelists.   Bécquer Seguín is an assistant professor of Iberian studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches the literary, cultural, and political history of modern Spain. He is a regular contributor to The Nation, where he has been reporting on Spain since 2015, and has written for Slate, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Public Books, where he co-edits the literature in translation and sports sections. The Op-Ed Novel is his first book.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Jacob Mikanowski – author of Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land – discusses his major inspirations as a writer and how his travels have shaped his perspective; explicates his specific approach to the history of Eastern Europe and what he views as the distinguishing features of this diverse region; and reflects on whether Eastern Europe might still be a place where nonconformists and their heterodox ideas can flourish. Jacob Mikanowski (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is a writer, journalist, and critic who has written for The Atlantic and the New York Times, among a host of other high-profile publications. Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land is his first book. Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land has been published by Pantheon.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura – authors of Posttraumatische Souveränität. Ein Essay – explain why they have centred the concept of posttraumatic sovereignty in their new book and how it might help us account for current trends in East Central Europe; reflect on the prevalence of trauma discourses and the tensions and risks inherent to such discourses; and discuss how East-West relations in Europe may have been transformed by Russia’s violent escalation and ongoing war against Ukraine and the varied responses to it.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Yaroslav Trofimov – author of the new book Our Enemies Will Vanish. The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence – shows how Ukraine has turned out to be much stronger than hoped whereas Russia has proven significantly weaker than feared; discusses the major crimes Russia has committed in Ukraine and the destruction its war of aggression has wrought; reflects on the experience of reporting on a major conflict in his country of origin; describes the evolving relationship between the Ukrainian leadership and its Western supporters; and shares his assessment of the prospects for Ukraine. Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. He has reported on most major conflicts of the past two decades. Yaroslav Trofimov is the author of two previous books and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in both 2022 and 2023. Our Enemies Will Vanish. The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence has been published by Penguin Press.

The editors of the Review of Democracy, CEU Democracy Institute's online platform participated in an online conversation summarizing their favorite pieces in 2023. On behalf of the RevDem staff, we wish our audience Happy New Year! Visit us and listen to us in 2024 too!

Hello, my name is Feren Laczo, I am an editor at the Review of Democracy, and I am also the co-head of the Ideas section. And it is my pleasure today to share with you a brief list of some of the most impressive publications we have covered this year. Ideas editors and podcasters have been invited to a continuous feast in 2023: the year has offered an unusual number of original publications of the highest caliber. Natasha Wheatley’s The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty, the Vienna-based discussion of which we were proud to co-organize; Sam Moyn’s Liberalism Against Itself. Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times that substantially critiques the dominant form Western liberalism has taken; Danielle Allen’s exciting proposal of a power-sharing liberalism; George Steinmetz’s major monograph on the colonial origins of modern social thought in France; or Adam Shatz’s collection of essays on the radical imagination have all been evident highlights. Here comes an all too selective list of five recommendations from RevDem Ideas of books that deserve to be more widely read and discussed.

Kasia Krzyżanowska, RevDem editor of the Review of Books section, recommends five books read in 2023.   Only two out of five books recommended here were published in 2023 (including a one translation of a book from the 50s). This very subjective selection assumes that some socio-political problems tackled by the proposed books do not have an expiration date and they can evoke awe, disbelief or anger even decades after the first publication.