Japan (Hakushuisha), Greece (Motibo/Topos)
Domestic rights sales: German Audiobook (Lagato)
Debuted at #1 on the Spiegel bestseller list, with over 80,000 copies sold
After the sensational success of Trigger Points, Steffen Mau offers ways out of political and cultural dead ends, providing plenty of fodder for debate
Winner of the Bavarian Book Prize 2024
November 2024 marks 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In three recent state elections in the former East, the right-wing Alternative for Germany party has emerged as the strongest party. It is against this backdrop that »Germany’s most sought-after diviner of society« (FAS) has made this nuanced intervention. Steffen Mau addresses some of the more prominent opinions on the topic, arguing against the theory that over time, East Germany will gradually come to resemble the West. Because of the people's experiences in the GDR and during the process of reunification, the East will stay different. Not just economically and politically, but also in terms of their mentality and sense of identity. Given the fact that traditional political parties are less deeply rooted in the former East, Mau argues that we should experiment with alternative forms of democracy, offering people stronger forms of participation, such as citizen’s assemblies. While firmly focussed on the relationship between the two halves of Germany, this book could offer lessons for other countries dealing with growing populist movements and dwindling social cohesion.
»In a debate that is saturated with resentments, [Mau] has written a text that is entirely devoid of them. And he manages to look at the existing resentments with engaged attention … analysing them to reveal their truth content or the nefarious intentions behind them, but without immediately making accusations – at the end of it all, you feel as if you’ve been freed from a miserable mood.« Tobias Rüther, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
»Mau writes clearly and strikingly about a complex and explosive topic…« Bettina Baltschev, MDR
»A refreshingly constructive contribution in desperate times.« Cornelius Pollmer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
»Steffen Mau analyses the path of East Germany objectively, soberly, in an almost formidably dispassionate tone … He is not writing history, and certainly not a new one. Rather, he systematically and analytically examines sociocultural indicators and their dynamics. The result is an image of East Germany that, while not new, has rarely been painted with such precision, such clarity, and so convincingly.« Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk
»In a debate that is saturated with resentments, [Mau] has written a text that is entirely devoid of them. And he manages to look at the existing resentments with engaged attention … analysing...
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Steffen Mau Receives the Bavarian Book Prize 2024
Mau was awarded in the non-fiction category for his book Unity Without Equality.DISCOVER
Steffen Mau Receives the Bavarian Book Prize 2024
Mau was awarded in the non-fiction category for his book Unity Without Equality.Persons
OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Lütten Klein
Steffen Mau grows up in the 1970s in Lütten Klein, a neighbourhood of newly constructed residential buildings in Rostock. When the Berlin Wall falls, he is serving with the National People’s Army,...
France (MSH), Japan (Misuzu)

The Metric We
Whether education, health or consumption: by now, data is gathered on almost every aspect of our personalities and behaviour. Step by step we are becoming a society of stars, scores, likes...
English world rights (Polity), Spanish rights/Mexico (UNAM), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press), Czech Republic (Karolinum)