The period in which Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) lived and explored the world is now considered to be a transitional period between aristocracy and modernity. A time of change and constant change at all levels of society. Nevertheless, Hegel is “a character who is somehow distant,” said Jürgen Kaube, co-editor of the “FAZ”, on Monday (June 14, 2021) in the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, where his book “Hegel’s World” was published for the first time awarded German Non-Fiction Prize.
In his book, Kaube uses a portrait of the German philosopher Hegel to describe Europe’s dawn of modernity – accompanied by all the doubts that went with it. The jury found that Kaube presented the contradictions around 1800 elegantly and humorously. The book spans the present, because back then it was also about getting involved in a changing world.
Handed down by others
Many of Hegel’s writings were never published by him and were only handed down because his students had copied them, said Kaube. He receives prize money of 25,000 euros, the other seven nominated authors each receive 2,500 euros of the award, which is endowed with a total of 42,500 euros.
Doubter and philosopher: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
The Association of the German Book Trade created the German Non-Fiction Book Prize in order to pay more attention to open discourse in a time of fake news, hate speech and widespread anti-science, said the head of the Association, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, at the ceremony. “We need that award right now.”
From a total of 220 submissions from 135 publishers, the jury nominated eight works for the non-fiction prize. The six-strong jury for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2021 included the Chemnitz bookseller Klaus Kowalke, the science journalist Jeanne Rubner, the literary critic Denis Scheck, the author Hilal Sezgin, the history professor Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, the cultural journalist Kia Vahland and the Berlin literary editor Tania Martini.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Almost there: the eight nominees
Eight books that pack a punch – the nominees for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2021 hardly occupy an arm’s length on the shelf. But they promise inspiration and knowledge gain for long pandemic evenings. The jury selected them from 220 submissions from 118 publishers. The winning book “Hegel’s World” by Jürgen Kaube was chosen at the award ceremony on June 14 in the Berlin Palace.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Jürgen Kaube: “Hegel’s World”
In his book, Jürgen Kaube tells the life of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. It introduces the thinking of the German philosopher (1770-1831) and thus describes Europe’s dawn of modernity. The epoch called “Sattelzeit” experienced tremendous upheavals, which the journalist Kaube meticulously traces in “Hegel’s World”.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim: “Smallest Common Reality”
True, false, plausible? Science journalist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim examines burning issues in our society. In her book “Smallest Common Reality” she contrasts facts and scientific findings with half-truths, fakes and conspiracy myths. Your publisher Droemer/Knaur advertises the title as “the best bullshit detector for our supposedly post-truth time”.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Heike Behrend: “A monkey becoming human”
The ethnologist Heike Behrend draws a very personal summary of her almost 50 years of work in Kenya and Uganda in her book “Humanization of a Monkey”. In the subtitle she calls her book an “autobiography of ethnographic research”. cultural misunderstandings, conflicts and the occasional failure in a foreign country.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Asal Dardan: “Reflections of a Barbarian”
In her collection of essays “Reflections on a Barbarian”, Asal Dardan, who grew up in Germany as a child of Iranian parents, describes her view of Germans coming to terms with the past, racism and, last but not least, equality. Shaped by the experience of exile, the author reflects on German society, on the contrasts between “we” and the “others”.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Daniel Leese: “Mao’s Long Shadow”
In his book “Mao’s Long Shadow. China’s Dealing with the Past”, published by CH Beck, the Sinologist Daniel Leese from Freiburg takes a look at the recent history of the Middle Kingdom. He analyzes Beijing’s handling of political crimes during the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong and thus helps to understand China’s more recent history.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Andreas Kossert: “Flight. A History of Mankind”
How does it feel to be a refugee? In his book, the historian Andreas Kossert describes the existential experiences of migrants – violence, arbitrariness, and helplessness. According to Kossert’s thesis, the phenomenon of flight runs like a red thread through history, from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise to slavery and the flight movements of our day.
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Christoph Möllers: “Degrees of Freedom”
In mechanics, degrees of freedom refer to the number of directions in which a body can move at a joint. In his political essay “Degrees of Freedom”, the Berlin constitutional lawyer Christoph Möllers examines this question in a different context: What can be done about the widespread diagnosis of the erosion of liberal democracy?
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German Non-Fiction Prize: These works were up for election
Michael Maar: “The snake in wolf’s clothing. The secret of great literature”
When is literature good, what is good style? Where did even Goethe and Fontane have their weaknesses? Michael Maar, author, literary critic and Germanist, reveals the secrets of great literature in his book “The Snake in Wolf’s Clothing”. 40 years of reading experience help him with his little stylistic history of literature.
Author: Stefan Dege
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