Book Blog

Adriaan van Veldhuizen recently received his PhD in Leiden for a study about the Dutch Social-Democratic Workers' Party in it's pioneering phase. He asked himself what the party meant for the 'ordinary' members of the first hour.

Ron Blom and Bart van der Steen have taken on the hellishly complicated task of writing a history of the Dutch Trotskist movement.

In the two-volume issue 'Jenny Marx- Die Briefe' and 'Jenny Marx - Die Biographie', Jenny von Westphalen, the wife of Marx, gets the honor she deserves, although Karl is not left out of the picture, of course.

Between 1945 and 1989, the Dutch army came under fire from different sides of society.

Fighting, that is what he did Will Thorne, not just to survive but also during his work as union man. This book, one of the first real autobiographies from the perspective of someone belonging to the working class, describe the life and works of Will Thorne.

Alfredo Menéndez-Navarro, Professor of the History of Science at Granada University, is the author of a richly illustrated publication presenting historical posters from various European Countries.

The man who did not want a biography has got one six years after his death. Nooit op de Knieën: Marcus Bakker 1923-2009, communist en Parliamentariër, written by Leo Molenaar and published by Balans publishers.

Maurice Ferares (* 1922) is a violinist by profession, was active in the trade union of Soundartists, in the Trotskyist Fourth International and the Social Democratic Center.

Gustav Landauer (1870-1919) is known in a small circle as anarchist theorist, writer and translator of Shakespeare. He was also minister of propaganda in the short-lived Bavarian Council Republic of 1919.

A beautiful publication, which certainly qualifies for the Best Dutch Book Designs, is Beeldstatistiek Peter Alma by Wim Jansen (author) and Chang Chi Lan-Ying (designer).

The Paris Commune of March 1871 failed and was stifled in blood. Yet that same Commune has been the shining example of the fighting culture of all kinds of popular movements for almost a century and a half to all corners of the world.