Watching the riots, I kept seeing the luxury in Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames, a novel about one of the first Parisian department stores. Buying and seduction, money and poverty, a weak state: Sometimes it feels as if an era is searching for its ending. europeanreviewofbooks.com/looting-and-...

Looting and desire - The European Review of Books

France is now officially a country of malcontents. To make sense of the chaos of conflicting interests and threats, I read and listened to dozens of interpretations, but none added anything meaningful...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Teddy tells Raimund she eats 2 meals a day at most. « You mustn’t get too used to it. » Paris, 1932, weeks before Hitler takes power. Sebastian Haffner’s autobiographical novel Parting, translated by Michael Hofmann, has had hardly any coverage. Wake up! europeanreviewofbooks.com/folie/

« We have here evidence of the predatory, destructive intent of Big Tech's leadership, and our current endeavor consists in turning this moment into a wake-up call. » ⏰ The French academics from @rogueesr.bsky.social are sounding the alarm. europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-spectacl...

The Spectacle of AI taking over the world - The European Review of Books

A group of French scientists sees OpenAI unjustly claiming it has solved the mathematical Navier-Stokes problem and sounds the alarm. A handful of tech moguls are establishing a private monopoly over ...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Here’s @daniel.pizza, another guy who loves immersing himself in books. He simply writes a monthly newsletter trying to explain what he loved (or did not) about one. Charming: www.trema.website

Trema

Short writing about books worth reading, by Daniël van der Winden

trema.website

My review of Noah Walker-Crawford's brilliant book, The Climate Trial, published by @dukepress.bsky.social on the ground-breaking case brought by Saúl Luciano Lliuya supported by @germanwatch.bsky.social has come out with @europeanreview.bsky.social here: europeanreviewofbooks.com/whos-your-ne...

Who's your neighbor now? - The European Review of Books

A Peruvian farmer sued German energy company RWE claiming damages for flood risk to his home in the Andes.

europeanreviewofbooks.com

My dream was abundant: a magazine brimming with beauty, clear-eyed, quietly furious yet full of tenderness for the world. Unruly tenderness. Issue TWELVE is out and that's co-founding editor Wiegertje Postma, holding it. Time to roar louder. 👇

To what extent are we part of Mark Zuckerberg? The intellectual equal of Elon Musk has written an essay, and I count 6 different uses of "we." They make "Meta creates this" and "humanity wants this" indistinguishable. europeanreviewofbooks.com/to-what-exte...

To what extent are we part of Mark Zuckerberg? - The European Review of Books

I started reading « The future is for everyone; the path to a positive AI future », an essay by Mark Zuckerberg, the intellectual equal of Elon Musk,  « We are fortunate to live at an incredible moment in history. » Instant annoyance. Who were these fortunate we? The people working on AI? The entire world population? Only Americans, […]

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Issue Twelve 1 September Pre-order: europeanreviewofbooks.com/product/issu...

I learned what artistic freedom is in a secret museum hidden in a wooden barn in the Swedish woods, after receiving its padlock code from the artist's daughter: it contained the spectacular explosion of one single mind: europeanreviewofbooks.com/museum-for-o...

Museum for one - The European Review of Books

I have learned what artistic freedom is. It happened in a secret museum somewhere in Sweden. I had to wade through tall grass toward a windowless barn, painted in faluröd, the reddish-brown color that...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Went to see French Impressionists. Got stopped instead by fine-lined drawings titled "The Autopsy of Lehman Brothers" and "The Milking of the Middle Class." Carlijn Kingsma calls herself a cartographer of society, and she's right. On the ERB blog now europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-cartogra...

The cartography of everything wrong - The European Review of Books

So there I am, in a museum in a town that in 150 years has evolved from a community of farmers to an artists’ colony, then to a posh village, and is by now a flashy village of loudmouths with too much...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

But what’s with Haaland’s Hermes bag collection?

The European Review of Books@europeanreview.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Haaland scored twice against Brazil and just walked it off, smiling. Sport in Norway starts relaxed by design: no youth leagues, no tables, no academies, kids play several sports for fun until they pick one. Day 31 of The Footnotes: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

I’ll mention a word and a name: Jersey and Magritte

The European Review of Books@europeanreview.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Héee pssstt: we know the secret of the Belgium football team. Here -> europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

«Did anyone really think I'd write a biography of a footballer?» Barbi Marković was supposed to write a book about Yugoslav great Piksi Stojković. Instead she wrote Piksi-Buch: a wild, satirical memoir in the voice of a football commentator. Day 24: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Day 24: the French keeper wears gloves inscribed with his philosophy: Foi, Discipline, Travail, Patience et Humilité 70 years ago another French keeper caught TB and had to resort to books for his philosophy. Yet Albert Camus owed his to football. europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

in my favorite new magazine @equatormag.bsky.social

The European Review of Books@europeanreview.bsky.social · 4mo ago

« In recognition of the fact that football causes heart attacks, the Estadio Azteca was built near Mexico City’s Institute of Cardiology, » writes Juan Villoro in @equatormag.bsky.social Day 22 of europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Dutch were kicked out by a great Morocco, after playing on the defense Berlin Dadaists knew better. in 1919 Jedermann Sein Eigner Fussbal was published: Everyone His Own Football: don't let yourself be kicked around. Kick your own ball Day 20: europeanreviewofbooksfootnotes.substack.com»

One in four players at this World Cup was born outside the country they represent. Day 19 of our diary: Whatever happens tonight in Netherlands–Morocco, migrants win. europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

« An altklug child knows too much to be truly young, yet has somehow preserved the guilelessness of youth » ALTKLUG (old-smart) Thank you @tobiashaberkorn.bsky.social for teaching me that word, blnreview.de/en/ausgaben/...

Tobias Haberkorn · Never Young—Editorial to Reader 7

“The oppressive yet strangely compelling feeling of never really having been young may itself be a form of longevity, one that resembles the condition of many young people today.” A striking number of...

blnreview.de

Cabo Verde — a tiny archipelago at its first World Cup — drew 0-0 with Spain (who 'should' have scored twice), 2-2 with Uruguay, and held on against Saudi Arabia. Three draws, no wins, no losses — on to the next round. Day 17 of our diary: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Virility van Dijk

The European Review of Books@europeanreview.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Isn't it time we talked about the erotic pull of footballers? Virgil van Dijk is on the cover of Fantastic Man, talking skincare (Zwitsal baby oil, since childhood), his secret hair routine, and Milan fashion week. Day 14 of our diary: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

We wrote about a 1928 Belgian poem where a goalkeeper’s head is knocked off and rolls like a ball. A reader pointed us to the same image in a 14th-century English romance, So it IS coming home. football as a literary trope from Octavian to King Lear europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Three shots, all off target. At his prime Ronaldo was inevitable, so what is he now? Day 8 of our diary reads Ronaldo (41) against a poet from his own island, who thinks no one ever really leaves Madeira. europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Collective wisdom? Truth machines? Sports betting and prediction markets reveal the truth? Then why is England always a favorite while they haven’t won since 1966? europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; i...

europeanreviewofbooks.com

It’s about my favourite poet, from Belgium.

The European Review of Books@europeanreview.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A goal made by Belgium brings us to a grotesque from 1928, about a goalkeeper who’s had is replaced by a ball. Day 6 of our World Cup diary: europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

Before the battlefield comes the dance floor. Turkey sent its World Cup team in a convoy of flag-draped cars, drones, cameras: the full soldier's farewell. Then they out-shot, out-passed and out-played Australia, yet lost 2-0. Day 5: on football and martyrdom: open.substack.com/pub/european...

Return either as a veteran or a martyr

by Hazar Deniz Eker

open.substack.com

«'I'm not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of racists. » Vinícius Jr, who leveled Brazil against an impressive Morocco. Day 4 of our World Cup diary is about a form of racism you can't miss: the quieter kind that hides inside a compliment…thefootnotes.substack.com»

We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Park Chan-wook after South Korea came back to beat the Czech Republic in their opening game of the World Cup this morning. Day 2 of The Footnotes europeanreviewofbooks.com/the-footnotes/

The Footnotes - The European Review of Books

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup and offering daily dispatches, in collaboration with Hazar Deniz Eker and Sander Pleij (one is losing his belief in football, and the other is mesmerized by it; it’s up to you, dear reader, to guess which is which), and others. UPDATES: Day 2 | 12 Jun 14:42 […]

europeanreviewofbooks.com

The ERB is reading the 2026 World Cup: daily dispatches with Hazar Deniz Eker and @sanderpleij.bsky.social One is losing his belief in football, the other is mesmerized by it; up to you, dear reader, to guess which is which. 39 days only: europeanreviewofbooksfootnotes.substack.com/subscribe

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Reading the World Cup in daily dispatches. Click to read The Footnotes on Substack. Launched 11 hours ago.

europeanreviewofbooks.substack.com

This week, Pope Leo XIV called AI the new Tower of Babel. l A century ago, Europe's writers—Zweig, Rolland, Mann—raged against the war. Their petitions went nowhere. I wondered whether intellectuals ever change anything. The essay ends with a petition to Claude.

KRIEG - The European Review of Books

Stefan Zweig, Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann & Romain Rolland: lessons from the trenches, for AI models

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Issue eleven is out. The subscription price is lowered. We write about populist algorithms, Stefan Zweig, Pasolini, Thomas Mannm And 3 fiction writers take the stage. europeanreviewofbooks.com/issues/issue...