Böcker av Marek Kohn

A journey through Europe’s old towns, exploring why we treasure them—but also what they hide about a continent’s fraught history  “[A] fascinating chronicle.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal   Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War—some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the stories they tell about places, peoples, and nations are selective. They are never the whole story.   These old towns and their turbulent histories have been key sites in Europe’s ongoing theater of politics and war. Exploring seven old towns, from Frankfurt and Prague to Vilnius in Lithuania, the acclaimed writer Marek Kohn examines how they have been used since the Second World War to conceal political tensions and reinforce certain versions of history.   Uncovering hidden stories behind these old and old-seeming façades, Kohn offers us a new understanding of the politics of European history-making—showing how our visits to old towns could promote belonging over exclusion, and empathy over indifference.

Exploring seven old towns from Frankfurt to Vilnius, the acclaimed writer Marek Kohn examines how historic quarters have been shaped to reinforce particular versions of history and efface others. Uncovering hidden stories behind their old and old-seeming façades, Kohn offers us a new understanding of the politics of European history-making.

A compelling argument about the importance of using more than one language in today's world

Offers a fusion of science and biography. This book is about the Englishness of evolutionary theory and the lives and personalities - often eccentric and controversial - of those who made it.