Robert Misik

Robert Misik, born in Vienna in 1966, is a journalist and political author. His most recent essay Die falschen Freunde der einfachen Leute was awarded the Bruno-Kreisky-Preis für das politische Buch in 2019. The prize promotes political literature that advocates freedom, equality, social justice, solidarity, tolerance, the fight against right-wing extremism and artistic freedom.

Awards (selection)

Bruno-Kreisky-Preis für das politische Buch 2019 for Die falschen Freunde der einfachen Leute
Preis der Keynes-Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftspublizistik 2018
Österreichischer Staatspreis für Kulturpublizistik 2009

PUBLICATIONS

Year of Publication: 2026

Robert MisikYear of Publication: 2026

An Education in Cruelty

Brecht’s 1926 play Man Equals Man explores the question of whether people can be arbitrarily moulded, including their beliefs. Within a week, the worker Galy Gay is »reassembled« into an unfeeling fighting machine for the British colonial army. Hardly ten years later, this is exactly what occurred with an entire society in Nazi Germany.

With the ongoing escalation of...

Year of Publication: 2022

The Great Sense of New Beginnings

Shattering conventions, revolutionising perceptions, imagining new things – that was the spirit of radical modernism. Bertolt Brecht spoke of the great sense of new beginnings. Today, all utopian optimism seems to have evaporated – is it a thing of the past?

»Not at all!« is Robert Misik’s reply to such laments. He sets out on a tour de...

Year of Publication: 2019

The False Friends of the Common People

Old parties are disappearing, new ones are emerging. The guiding principles of discourse are changing. As chaotic as the political situation presents itself, as confusing is the range of...

Rights sold to:

Czech Republic (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung)

Year of Publication: 2017

The Great Regression

At the latest, since the effects of the financial crisis became clear and migration to the European Union began to grow, we have seen developments that many had thought were the phenomena of a...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Catalan rights (Grup 62), Chinese simplex rights (Horizon), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estação Liberdade), Korea (Sallim), Portugal (PRH – Objectiva), France (Premier Parallèle; Paperback Sublicense: Gallimard Folio), Italy (Feltrinelli), Netherlands (Atlas Contact), Czech Republic (Rybka), Romania (ART), Turkey (Metis)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Bulgaria (KX Critique & Humanism)