Sounds promising. I'll be picking up a copy from my local library this weekend.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:39 PM on September 19, 2024 [2 favorites]

I *just* read it last week in about three sittings. It's an amazing book!

There's a short ARTE documentary on her life I'd recommend:

Deep Thought: In Conversation with Lea Ypi

Ypi is also a frequent contributor to several David Runciman hosted podcasts of the London Review of Books:

Free with Lea Ypi
What if¡­ The Berlin Wall Hadn¡¯t Fallen?
The Great Political Fictions: Lea Ypi on The Wild Duck
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: Liberation Movements
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: Existentialism and Psychoanalysis
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: Anarchism and Nihilism
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: What is the Free Market?
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: Kant, Enlightenment and Peace
The History of Freedom w/ Lea Ypi: Machiavelli and Political Liberty
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: The Ancients - Socrates, Seneca & Jesus
The History of Freedom w/Lea Ypi: Why Does It Matter?
The End of Enlightenment
Democracy Q&A w/ Lea Ypi
Democracy vs Nationalism w/ Lea Ypi
Rethinking Democracy w/ Lea Ypi
Living Behind the Iron Curtain
posted by Omon Ra at 2:12 PM on September 19, 2024 [5 favorites]

I loved that book! Growing up in a 'communist' country also, I have so many childhood memories that match up with hers in almost eerie ways. There are episodes in the book that are just brilliantly written, like the fight with their previously-close neighbor over the provenance of an empty Coca-Cola can. That story is both bleakly humorous and touching in a most human way.

(In fact when NYT was letting readers to nominate their own 'best of this century' reads, this was my first entrance.)
posted by of strange foe at 8:36 AM on September 20, 2024 [1 favorite]