“Der Aufstieg der Rechten in Krisenzeiten. Die Regression der Mitte” (“The Rise of the Right in Times of Crisis. The Regression of the Middle”) takes third place on the list of best non-fiction books for July/August. The 30-member jury thus honored the book by Daniel Mullis, which was published by Reclam in March 2024. In it, the author summarizes his research from the past six years.
Two central questions of the publication are: Why are right-wing and far-right movements so successful in times of crisis? And what are the processes in the so-called middle of society that make right-wing narratives and judgments catch on? As part of his DFG project, he conducted interviews with residents of peripheral neighborhoods in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, where the AfD has been strong in recent years. “What makes the far right attractive is the offer of not having to change despite all the crises and the need for ecological transformation,” says Daniel Mullis, summarizing his findings. At the same time, he goes beyond a description of the current situation and asks what role individualization and the neoliberalization of society play and how progressive politics can succeed in uncertain times.
The list of best non-fiction books published by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ZDF and ZEIT recommends ten outstanding books every month. The jury is made up of thirty critics who work for different media outlets.