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natlib91's review
4.0
this book is divided into four parts. the first covers the origins of the European Union, those who first envisioned it, what models they looked to from the history of the continent, what their conception of the bloc were, how the various anti-democratic blocs were actually encoded and function and how these shape the EU's national components. this section, which often functions as a literature review of the output of Atlanticist grotesques who monopolise the discipline known as political science, functions well as a compendium of the EU's many crimes.
the second part, 'the core', provides a history of French, German and Italian history since World War II. The French section is far and away the strongest here, the passing away of one structure of feeling or political paradigm and the construction of another; Gaullism, Theory, 68, neoliberalism. Anderson is in his element here, particularly enjoyed his despair at the French's pivot towards a particularly atavistic provincialism, as well as his identification of Robbe-Grillet as the one flop amidst one of the last great efflorescences of European culture. The German and Italian sections far less so; the cultural facility and capacity to map mass sentiment falls away, bringing them down to the level of Wikipedia-like summaries of developments within the electoral or parliamentary realm.
things pick up again in the third section on Cyprus and Turkey, which are both really strong, as is the concluding sum-up. Anderson once criticised Arrighi for lacking a theory of labour or working-class power outside of his intricate top-down model, which reading this, might read as a kind of self-criticism
the second part, 'the core', provides a history of French, German and Italian history since World War II. The French section is far and away the strongest here, the passing away of one structure of feeling or political paradigm and the construction of another; Gaullism, Theory, 68, neoliberalism. Anderson is in his element here, particularly enjoyed his despair at the French's pivot towards a particularly atavistic provincialism, as well as his identification of Robbe-Grillet as the one flop amidst one of the last great efflorescences of European culture. The German and Italian sections far less so; the cultural facility and capacity to map mass sentiment falls away, bringing them down to the level of Wikipedia-like summaries of developments within the electoral or parliamentary realm.
things pick up again in the third section on Cyprus and Turkey, which are both really strong, as is the concluding sum-up. Anderson once criticised Arrighi for lacking a theory of labour or working-class power outside of his intricate top-down model, which reading this, might read as a kind of self-criticism
ilchinealach's review
4.0
this book is divided into four parts. the first covers the origins of the European Union, those who first envisioned it, what models they looked to from the history of the continent, what their conception of the bloc were, how the various anti-democratic blocs were actually encoded and function and how these shape the EU's national components. this section, which often functions as a literature review of the output of Atlanticist grotesques who monopolise the discipline known as political science, functions well as a compendium of the EU's many crimes.
the second part, 'the core', provides a history of French, German and Italian history since World War II. The French section is far and away the strongest here, the passing away of one structure of feeling or political paradigm and the construction of another; Gaullism, Theory, 68, neoliberalism. Anderson is in his element here, particularly enjoyed his despair at the French's pivot towards a particularly atavistic provincialism, as well as his identification of Robbe-Grillet as the one flop amidst one of the last great efflorescences of European culture. The German and Italian sections far less so; the cultural facility and capacity to map mass sentiment falls away, bringing them down to the level of Wikipedia-like summaries of developments within the electoral or parliamentary realm.
things pick up again in the third section on Cyprus and Turkey, which are both really strong, as is the concluding sum-up. Anderson once criticised Arrighi for lacking a theory of labour or working-class power outside of his intricate top-down model, which reading this, might read as a kind of self-criticism
the second part, 'the core', provides a history of French, German and Italian history since World War II. The French section is far and away the strongest here, the passing away of one structure of feeling or political paradigm and the construction of another; Gaullism, Theory, 68, neoliberalism. Anderson is in his element here, particularly enjoyed his despair at the French's pivot towards a particularly atavistic provincialism, as well as his identification of Robbe-Grillet as the one flop amidst one of the last great efflorescences of European culture. The German and Italian sections far less so; the cultural facility and capacity to map mass sentiment falls away, bringing them down to the level of Wikipedia-like summaries of developments within the electoral or parliamentary realm.
things pick up again in the third section on Cyprus and Turkey, which are both really strong, as is the concluding sum-up. Anderson once criticised Arrighi for lacking a theory of labour or working-class power outside of his intricate top-down model, which reading this, might read as a kind of self-criticism
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