ERSTE Foundation Library

A selection of interesting new additions to the ERSTE Foundation Library catalogue in 2020, compiled by the head of the library, Jutta Braidt

APPLEBAUM, ANNE

Twilight of Democracy. The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

New York: Doubleday, 206 pages.

In Twilight of Democracy, Applebaum contends that we should not be surprised by the rise of various forms of authoritarianism: political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else. People don’t just act ideologically, she claims in this captivating, elaborate essay, they are also practical, pragmatic and opportunistically inclined. Applebaum shows how conspiracy theories, political polarisation, social media and the longing for an idealised past are instrumentalised to change societies in Britain, the United States, Spain, Poland and Hungary. BREGMAN, RUTGER

Humankind: A Hopeful History

(translated from the Dutch by Erica Moore and Elizabeth Manton). London, Oxford, New York, New Dehli, Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing, 480 pages.

In his new book, historian and journalist Rutger Bregman examines human nature in depth. Contrary to what is assumed in the Western tradition of thought, Bregman argues that humans are not evil by nature. On the contrary, they are innately good. With that in mind, it seems possible to think of the world and the people in it in a completely new and fundamentally optimistic way – at least that is what Bregman suggests.

WIESBAUER, HEINZ

Wilde Bienen: Biologie, Lebensraumdynamik und Gefährdung. Artenporträts von über 470 Wildbienen Mitteleuropas

(2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer Publishers. 480 pages.

As a foundation with a bee in its logo, we also care about wildlife. This magnificent book introduces over 470 bee species from all genera found throughout Central Europe with photographs and brief portraits, providing insight into the biology and habitat requirements of wild bees. It also deals with the dramatic habitat changes and the resulting threat to wild bees. The book aims to show how we can protect and conserve wild bees in our cultural landscape and in public spaces. ROSTEK, A., WEILER, T., WELLER, N., & WÜNSCHMANN, T.

Belarus! Das weibliche Gesicht der Revolution

Berlin: Edition.fotoTapeta, 272 pages.

War does not have a woman’s face, Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich noted in her bestknown book. According to this collection of writings on the precarious situation in Belarus, however, revolution seems to have a “woman’s” face – at least that is what this anthology of numerous original contributions, poems, a chronicle and many other documents from the country suggests.

A selection of interesting new additions to the ERSTE Foundation Library catalogue in 2020, compiled by the head of the library, Jutta Braidt

KNAUS, GERALD

Welche Grenzen brauchen wir? Zwischen Empathie und Angst – Flucht, Migration und die Zukunft von Asyl

Munich: Piper, 336 pages.

No other topic has influenced European politics in recent years as much as the debate on refugees, asylum and migration. Migration expert Gerald Knaus outlines what is really behind the debate and shows that humane borders are possible. Knaus explains why we often struggle with conflicting emotions – here empathy, there fear of losing control – and how to enable a policy that takes facts and emotions seriously. An important book, particularly against the background of Austria’s current deportation policy. GRUNOW, HANS-WERNER AND ZENDER, CHRISTOPH

Green Finance. Erfolgreiche Schritte zur grünen Unternehmensfinanzierung

Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, VIII, 68 pages.

The author outlines the development of green finance and shows how it differs from conventional financing. He describes cases where green finance has been implemented, relevant instruments and the processes to be used, as well as addressing the European Union’s Green Finance agenda. A short and snappy overview of sustainable corporate finance.

BOZESAN, MARIANA

Integral Investing: From Profit to Prosperity

Cham: Springer Nature, 265 pages.

Early-stage investors and entrepreneurs today face the dilemma of having to choose between profit and impact; between traditional, for-profit-only models on the one hand, and multiple-bottom-line structures with a positive social or environmental impact on the other. To help them, and in response to a time when climate change, exponentially growing technologies and Covid-19 are calling into question humanity’s priorities, Bozesan proposes a new investment paradigm, namely Integral Investing, which incorporates and transcends the best practices of both traditional venture capital and impact investing. FERGUSON, PETER

Post-growth Politics. A Critical Theoretical and Policy Framework for Decarbonisation

Cham: Springer, XIII, 197 pages.

Peter Ferguson uses a critical political economy approach to develop a set of historically and politically informed strategies for states to move towards a post-growth, decarbonised global economy. He examines the social and ecological costs of and limits to economic growth and finds that significant decarbonisation of the global economy can only be achieved by replacing conventional growth-based economies with an alternative post-growth economy.

A selection of interesting new additions to the ERSTE Foundation Library catalogue in 2020, compiled by the head of the library, Jutta Braidt

GÖPEL, MAJA

Unsere Welt neu denken. Eine Einladung

Berlin: Ullstein, 208 pages.

Our world is at a tipping point and we feel it. On the one hand, we’re doing better than ever, but on the other hand, we see distortions, destruction and crises wherever we look. Whether it’s the environment or society – our systems seem to be coming under stress simultaneously. We suspect that things will not and cannot stay the way they are. How do we find a way of life that reconciles the well-being of the planet with that of humanity? Where is the path between prohibitionist regimes and questions of guilt on the one hand and growth mania and technological promises on the other? Maja Göpel invites us to take a new and different look at this future. MAK, GEERT

Große Erwartungen: Auf den Spuren des europäischen Traums (1999–2019)

(translated from the Dutch by Andreas Ecke) (2nd ed.). Munich: Siedler, 640 pages.

From the shores of Lampedusa to Putin’s Moscow, from stubborn Catalonia to the Muslim suburbs of Copenhagen: our continent is stretched to breaking point. Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, what has become of the old European dream – peace, freedom and prosperity – which is increasingly turning into a nightmare? Geert Mak picks up from his 2005 classic In Europe to explore, almost twenty years later, what has become of the great expectations of that time.

ROBINSON, KIM STANLEY The Ministry for the Future London: Orbit, 563 pages.

This book by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson covers the topics of climate change, technology, politics and the human behaviour that drives these forces. His setting is, however, not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world; instead he imagines a future full of hope, where we have managed to overcome our challenges and to thrive. FOWKES, MAJA AND FOWKES, REUBEN

Central and Eastern European Art since 1950

London/New York: Thames & Hudson, 224 pages.

Maja and Reuben Fowkes present outstanding artworks and major figures from across Central and Eastern Europe to reveal the movements, theories and styles that have shaped artistic practice since 1950. Tracing the upheavals in art movements during this time, from the short-lived unison of the Socialist Realist period to the incredible diversity of art in the post-communist era, they examine the repercussions of political events on artistic life – notably the uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the Solidarity movement in Poland and the collapse of the communist bloc. Their main interest, however, is in the experimental art of the neo-avantgarde, which defied official agendas and engaged with global currents such as performance art, video, multimedia and net art.