Tag: books

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This is a complete list of reviews of my books The Coasts of Bohemia (1998), Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century (2013), and Postcards from Absurdistan (2022) that are known to me. If anyone knows of any others I’d be glad of the information.

The Coasts of Bohemia 

1. Kirkus Reviews (February 15, 1998)

2. Foreign Affairs (Robert Levgold, Sept/Oct 1998)

3. Choice (Nov 1998)

4. New York Review of Books (R. J. W. Evans, “The Magic of Bohemia,” October 21, 1999)

5. Times Literary Supplement (Steven Beller, “The Shadow on the Pavement,” review essay, 1 January 1999, lead review)

6. New Republic (Tony Judt, “Freedom and Freedonia,” review essay, September 1998, reprinted in his When the Facts Change: Essays 1995-2010, London: Penguin, 2015, pp. 85-104)

7. Vancouver Sun (Stan Persky)

8. Nationalities Papers (Daniel Miller, Vol.27(2), pp. 343-345, 01/01/1999)

9. Slavic Review (Robert Pynsent, Volume 58, Issue 1, Spring 1999, pp. 203 – 204)

10. Habsburg H-net (Hugh Agnew, October 1999)

11. University of Toronto Quarterly (Andrew Rossos, Vol. 69, #1, winter 1999-2000)

12. Austrian History Yearbook (Volume 31, January 2000, pp. 180 – 181, T. Mills Kelly)

13. Canadian Journal of History (Vol. 35, #1,  Apr 2000, 124-126, Mikuláš Teich).

14. Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas (Neue Folge, Bd. 48, H. 3, 2000, pp. 469-470, Claire Nolte)

15. Central European History (Vol. 33, No. 4, 2000, pp. 562-564, Ivan T. Berendt)

16. East European Quarterly (R. William Weisberger, 2001)

Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century

1.  Publishers Weekly (28 January 2013)

2.  Financial Times (Tony Barber, “Artistic capital, revived,” 3 May 2013)

—reposted on Czech Embassy London Facebook page 4 May 2013  

—reposted on Journalisted, 3 May 2013

—reposted on EuroNewsCloud.com, 3 May 2013

—reposted on Media Dragon, 5 May 2013

3.  Times Higher Education (Marta Filipová, “Dark pieces in a Modernist puzzle,” 30 May 2013)

—reposted on Aboutmyprague, 28 May 2013

4.  ForeWord Reviews (Karen Ackland, 31 May 2013)

5.  Australian (Nicolas Rothwell, “At the crossroads in Prague,” 15 June 2013)

—reposted on Tugendhat Villa page of World Warisan: News of UNESCO World Heritage Sites 14 June 2013. 

6.  Library Journal  (Kelsey Berry Philpott, 15 June 2013)

7.  Booklist  (Brendan Driscoll, 18 June 2013)

8.  Northern Review of Books (Jim Burns, June 2013)

9.  Reference & Research Book News (June 2013)

10.   Leonardo (Jan Baetens, 1 July 2013)

—excerpted at Quantitative Risk Management 15 July 2013  

11.  Architectural Review (Andrew Mead, “Bohemian rhapsody,” 12 July 2013, pp. 103-4)

—reposted on American Planning Association Daily Planning News 13 August 2013

12.  deReactor.org: platform voor literair kritiek (Jan Baetens/Arnoud van Andrichem, 19 July 2013)

13.  Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (Michael Lowy, Vol. 21, issue 1, 2013, pp. 117-20, posted online 30 September 2013)

14.  New Eastern Europe  (Zlata Kopřívová, “The surrealist spirit of Prague,” issue 4, 2013, pp. 188-91)

15.  Choice  (P. W. Knoll, 13 October 2013 vol. 51 no. 02)

16.  Quarterly Review (Stoddard Martin, “La Bohême.  Stoddard Martin visits Prague by proxy,” posted 1 November 2013)

17.  Čechoaustralan (Miloš Ondrášek, “Na křížovatce,” Autumn/Winter 2013, p. 5)

18.  The Enlightened Economist: Economics and Business Books (Diane Coyle, “Lifting the iron curtain of the mind,” December 19, 2013)

19.  Diplomat & International Canada (George Fetherling, “Nitty-gritty Cities,” 5 January 2014)

20.  Times Literary Supplement (Marci Shore, “Surreal love in Prague,” 8 January 2014 [10 January print edition], lead review)

—The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna reposts TLS review in the “Read, Listen and Watch” section of their website (9 January 2014)

—Inagist reports TLS review, with links to full text (9 January 2014)

—3 Quarks Daily (9 January 2014) has excerpt from TLS review and link under title “Surreal Love in Prague”

—American Conservative Magazine (11 January 2014) lists the TLS review in its “Of Note” section

—Silobreaker reposts American Conservative Magazine post with link to full TLS text (11 January 2014)

21.   Gorse (Esther Galfalvi, 5 March 2014)

22.  American Historical Review (Claire Nolte, Vol. 119, Issue 2, April 2014, pp. 635-6)

23.  Austrian History Yearbook (Chad Bryant, No. 45, 2014, pp. 272-3, published on-line 20 April 2014)

24.  Critique d’art (Jérôme Duwa, «Derek Sayer, Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History») 

25.  Austrian Studies Newsmagazine (Andrea Orzoff, “A Resolutely Non-linear History,” Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring 2014, pp. 16, 19)

26.  Slavic Review (Thomas Ort, Vol. 73, No. 2, 2014, 378-381)

27.  European Review of History/Revue Européenne d’histoire (Andrea Talabér, Volume 21, 2014 – Issue 6, pp. 933-5, published online 1 April 2014)

28.  Social History (39:2, 2014, pp. 292-293, Claire Morelon)

29.  Lidové noviny (“Když Praha byla metropolí Evropy,” Pavel Kolář, weekend supplement Orientace, 28(X), 29 November 2014)

30.  Umění/Art (Vol. lxii, No. 5, 2014, pp. 576-8, Lenka Bydžovska)

            —English translation in CEE New Perspectives blog, 11 January 2016

31.  Canadian Slavonic Papers (Volume 56 • Nos. 3-4 • Sept.-Dec. / septembre-décembre 2014, 363-5, Veronika Ambros)

32.  Habsburg (H-net) (Jakub Beneš, March 2015)

33.   Canadian-American Slavic Studies (Alfred Thomas, Volume 50, Issue 1, pages 104-107, 2016) 

34.  Journal of Modern History (Mark Cornwall, Vol. 88, No. 3, September 2016)

35.  Central Europe (Peter Bugge, Vol. 13, issue 1-2, April 2016)

36.  Kunstform (Pavel Kolar, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2016)

37.  Contemporary European History (James M. Robertson, 25: 1, February 2016, 177-89.  Review essay of Pragueand 3 other books)

38.  Yomiuri Shimbun (28 December 2018). 

39.  Tosho-shimbun (the reviewer’s paper), (email from Kenichi Abe, translator of the Japanese edition, 21 January 2019).

40.  Asahi-Shimbun, (“The City of Kafka and Čapek,” 6 November 2018.  Saturday book side page)  

41.  All-Reviews, 2019/03/06.  Shigeru Kashima  

42.  Repre 35, 2019.  Haraka Kawakami  

43.  Mainichi Shimbun, 27 January 2019.  Shigeru Kashima.  Review.  (Same as All-Reviews one?  Listed on Hakusuisha page).

44. Magazin OKO, Meziřádky Zdenko Pavelky, 25.5.2021.  (Zdenko Pavelka.  Saturday Radio Vltava broadcast, review in weekend magazine)  

45.  Deník N, 3 June 2021.  (Jan Lukavec, “Surrealistická setkávání v modernistické metropoli. Vyšla další monografie magické Prahy”)

46.  ArtReview, (“Vynikající kniha nejen o Praze a českém surrealismu,” Radan Wagner, 12 June 2021)  

47.  Právo, 1 July 2021, Café section, p. 18.  (Petr Zídek, “Kniha o českém surrealismu aneb monografie světové Prahy”)

48. iLiterature.cz (Elizaveta Getta, “Město surrealistických snů,” 1 August 2021)

49.  Historická Sociologie, (Lucy Brown), Vol 14 No 1 (2022), 173–174 

50.   Soudobé dějiny / CJCH 2023, 30(1), pp. 223-233 (Veronika Košnartová.  „Hadrář“ Prahy dvacátého století? Kulturní dějiny jako postmoderní freska/A “Ragman” of Prague of the Twentieth Century? Cultural History as a Postmodern Fresco)

Other press mentions:

1.   Art Daily (March 15, 2013)

—reposted on European Graduate School Facebook page 15 March 2013

—reposted on Simon Fraser University Institute for the Humanities Facebook page,  15 March 2013

—reposted on Nick Socrates Contemporary Art 16 March 2013

—reposted on Delirium Clemens: Ruthner’s Global Austria: Central European Cultural Analysis 18 March 2013

—reposted on gg.art.com, Art News, 21 March 2013

—reposted on Realtime News: India as it Happens 26 March 2013

—reposted on regator  (March 2013)

—reposted on Trinity College Dublin MA in European Studies Facebook page, 30 March 2013 

2. 
Modernism/Modernity, vol. 20, #2, April 2013, pp. 423-425  

3.  Chronicle of Higher Education (12 April 2013, “The Chronicle Review,” p. B18)

4.  Belfast Telegraph (Michael Conaghan, “7 books you should own,” 4 May 2013, main paper, pp. 28-29) 

5.  Financial Times  (Summer Books Guide, 28 June 2013)

—reposted on Campaign for the Michigan Reader blog 29 July 2013, Campaign for the California Reader, Campaign for the Ohio Reader, and Campaign for the Texas Reader

6.  Dublin Review of Books (Issue 38, 1 July 2013)

7.  Financial Times Books of the Year (posted on-line November 29, 2013; in FT Weekend, Arts + Life section, Nov. 30 print ed.)

—reposted on http://www.mahbubani.net/Book Review/Books of the Year – FT.pdf, 30 November 2013.

—reposted under headline “”BOOKS OF THE YEAR: History and Politics, on Business Day Live (South Africa), Life and Books section, 12 December 2013

—reposted on http://static.pulso.cl/20131219/1870948.pdf, 19 December 2013

8.  Česká televize, Kultura section of website, reports FT listing under headline “Financial Times doporučuje: Praha, hlavní město dvacátého století”

—reprinted on IHNED.cz, 3 December 2013 with comment: “Kniha o českém surrealismu patří podle Financial Times mezi nejlepší letošní publikace.  České výtvarné umění, design, architekturu, literaturu a hudbu v období 1918 až 1945 zpracoval profesor historie kultury Derek Sayer ve své knize Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History. Za ni si vysloužil ocenění prestižního deníku Financial Times”

—latter reprinted on surrealist.sk, wn.com and právě dnes on 3 December 2013 

9.   Aktuálně.cz reports FT listing under headline “Financial Times doporučují dějiny pražských surrealistů” (4 December 2013)

10.  iDnes, Kultura, Literatura section, 24 December 2013, “Dějiny surrealistické Prahy jsou jednou z knih roku Financial Times”

11.  Portál české literatury/Czech Literature Portal, 24 December 2013  

12.  Czech Literature Portal (5 January 2014).  Separate entry from preceding: “FT praises Sayer’s book on Prague avant-garde” 

13.  Award of F. X. Šalda prize, including honorable mention for Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century, was reported on the following Czech sites:

            — artalk.cz, 12 June 2014

            — Blesk [daily newspaper], 17 June 2014 

            — Týden.cz [weekly magazine], 17 June 2014

14.  Fear of a Square Planet #12.  Virtual Memories Show, May 8, 2017, Gil Roth.  Podcast 

15.  iLiteratura.cz, 19 June 2021  

16.  “Book of the Week” on alian.info, weekly #156

Postcards from Absurdistan

1.  Library Journal starred review (David Keymer , Sep 01, 2022)

2.  Foreword Reviews (Meg Nola, Nov/Dec 2022)

3.  Publishers Weekly

4.  Dublin Review of Books (Alena Dvořáková, “Bohemian Encounters,” Feb 2023)

5.  Common Knowledge (R.J.W. Evans, Vol. 30, #3, Sept 2024)

6.  CEU Review of Books (Felic Jeschke, Nov 2024, “The Last Postcard from Prague”)

7.  Transitions (Michael Stein, 4 Nov 2024)

8.  Journal of Modern History (Rudolf Kučera, Vol. 97, #2, June 2025)

9.  Česká literatura/Czech Literature (Vol 73, issue 5, pp. 650–653, 2025.  Františka Schormová,  “Prague, postcards, palimpsests: Derek Sayer’s Czech histories”)

10.  iLiteratura.cz (Jan Lukavec, 16 May 2026, “Sayer, Derek: Pohlednice z Absurdistánu: Dějiny vyprávěné klíčovou dírkou”)

By on

I stumbled across several recent reviews of my book Postcards from Absurdistan. Here are some extracts.

“Postcards from Absurdistan is the third in a loose trilogy of books Derek Sayer has written about modern Czech cultural history … Put next to one another, the trilogy’s some 1,700 pages provide a tour de force of Czech cultural history … Sayer’s mise-en-scène and his analysis are always erudite, sometimes revisionist and frequently compelling … the book and the trilogy are tremendous achievements … this eminently readable book … is a well-balanced introduction to the Czech twentieth century for students and the wider public, and also offers many insights for expert scholars. Derek Sayer has written a deserving conclusion to his Czech trilogy.”—”The Last Postcard from Prague,” Felic Jeschke, CEU Review of Books

“Beginning with the intimate relationship between Franz Kafka and the Czech feminist, journalist, and writer Milena Jesenská, the book embarks on a colorful journey through the fates of hundreds of figures of Bohemian cultural life between 1918 and 1989. For Sayer, Prague is a loose starting point for the interweaving of the lives of the actors in his book, wherever these took place. He thus traces both the artistic activities and the private—and in many cases intimate—lives of countless Czech writers, architects, artists, and filmmakers, and of their partners, children, and extended families. He vividly shows the interconnectedness of their fates (and often their bedrooms), whether their lives’ vicissitudes took place in Prague, Paris, New York, or Tokyo, in their apartments, villas, or offices, in the torture chambers of the Nazi occupiers, in refugee camps, or in the interrogation rooms of the Communist secret police … Sayer displays a deeply impressive knowledge of modern Czech cultural history, which he manages to construct into an extremely appealing narrative … a literarily brilliant and empirically rich collage of stories from the history of Czech culture in the twentieth century.”—Rudolf Kučera, Journal of Modern History

“Sayer chronicles a world of the absurd but also contributes to it. Essentially he provides an episodic celebration of the Czech contribution to (post)modern civilization, with some brilliant aperçus … we learn much about the strategies of intellectuals and artists to frustrate successive orthodoxies of oppressive political regimes and especially about the genesis of the celebrated crop of Czech novelists and dramatists of the absurd headed by Bohumil Hrabal, Milan Kundera, and Václav Havel … In the absence of any comparative dimension to this book, it might well seem that Sayer exaggerates his case for Czech primacy in absurdism, in the spirit of Jára Cimrman, the larger-than-life inventor and discoverer whose exploits included leaving three missed-call messages on Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone. Yet perhaps, on second thought, the cult of Cimrman, “the greatest Czech who never lived” (he was himself invented in 1960s Prague, initially as a radio character) is actually strong evidence that the claim, precisely in its flippancy, carries some weight.”—R.J.W. Evans, Common Knowledge

“Derek Sayer’s latest dive into Czech cultural history traces the winding paths of its protagonists through artistic movements, war, exile, and oppression … The absurdity implied in the title is shown repeatedly to be the result of the heavy hand of politics interfering with the life and work of the country’s cultural greats. Virtually no one escapes unscathed. Death, prison, and exile are as common among these Czech writers and artists as gallery openings and publication … The book’s main title is Postcards from Absurdistan, and the sense of absurdity is largely delivered. Yet the story branches out so internationally – from Prague to Paris to Moscow to Tokyo, India, and the Utah desert, among other places – and the absurdity presented seems so evenly shared, that it can make the world in general appear an Absurdistan. It very likely is, yet there is a particular style of absurdity found in 20th century Central and Eastern Europe, whether nationalist, communist, or a combination of the two, which the book effectively presents and defines.”—Michael Stein, “The Unsummoned Convention of Genius,” Transitions.