Explore inspiring stories and expert insights.
Discover more about my approach to fostering cultural understanding and making diverse perspectives accessible. These thoughtfully curated nonfiction and fiction books marked my way to doing so.
Here, I present a selection of my book reviews that have deepened my knowledge and understanding of International Relations in general, with a particular focus on a place that, like others, is often superficially perceived, even by its own inhabitants. – Europe.
Hope these books inspire you, too!
- Εξήντα χρόνια τρύγος…
Sixty years of vintage… Often reduced to ancient history, modern Greece also offers much to help understand Europe. The country has given birth to fascinating personalities. Giannis Boutaris is one… Read more: Εξήντα χρόνια τρύγος… - Pasqual Maragall i l’Europa Próxima
Three academic researchers write about the heritage of the person who has shaped Barcelona as we know it today: its former mayor, Pasqual Maragall. A visionary European who knew how… Read more: Pasqual Maragall i l’Europa Próxima - Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest For Economic Meaning From Gilgamesh To Wall Street
The Bible, the Torah, and the Epic of Gilgamesh – this book sheds light on the origins of Western civilisation and its economy. Written in 2013, it struck right into… Read more: Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest For Economic Meaning From Gilgamesh To Wall Street - The Secret Lives of Colour
Among European editors, the British definitely mastered the art of book editing and printing. This beautifully designed book has a page or more for the history of each colour.Our relationship… Read more: The Secret Lives of Colour - Almost a nation of confectioners: Graubünden pastry chefs, café owners and hoteliers in European countries until the Second World War
I bought this book as a step to learn about my ancestors who emigrated from Graubünden, Switzerland, 300 years ago. It is a thoroughly researched book on emigration waves from… Read more: Almost a nation of confectioners: Graubünden pastry chefs, café owners and hoteliers in European countries until the Second World War - Instructions for British Servicemen in France 1944
In contrast to Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany 1944, the style of this guide is radically different. British soldiers stationed in France were to be prepared for fraternisation with… Read more: Instructions for British Servicemen in France 1944 - Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany 1944After Germany repeatedly started aggressive wars in 1870, 1914 and 1939, this handbook is evidence of how British troops were given detailed instructions not to allow the defeated Germans to… Read more: Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany 1944
- Three East German Women Get Drunk and Found the Ideal State
The fact that this book was written collectively, namely by three people, fits the subject of shared memories of socialism. The unique perspective of the East German women, which is… Read more: Three East German Women Get Drunk and Found the Ideal State - The Music of My Life
This book was written by Egon Seefehlner (born 1912 in Vienna), who was first a young law student, an aspiring Austrian diplomat and later director of Berlin Deutsche Oper during… Read more: The Music of My Life - K.L.Reich
The relatively unknown author Joaquim Amat-Piniella recounts his internment in Mauthausen and Ebensee in fictionalized form. This makes it easier for him to report on the cruel experiments on prisoners… Read more: K.L.Reich