Links 08.2026

// Reading Update

On a Personal Note

You know what? I can always tell when you haven’t caught up with my latest newsletters. Because whenever I run heavy, traditional Links formats for too long, the numbers slowly dip. And whenever I take a week off, the next editions suddenly get higher click rates.

So, I hear you! It’s time to mix in some “more digestible” stuff. That’s what we’re doing this week. I will bring you a certified crowd favorite: Which books are currently on my nightstand aka Ze Reading Update?

The timing of this also works in my favor. Because I myself just arrived by train from Potsdam—after a hectic week. On Friday, for example, it was unclear whether I’d even get out of Vienna. About 90 percent of flights were canceled. I somehow made it onto one of the few that actually departed. Always helpful to have the number of some NEOS ministers jk jk (or am I?!).

Next week, I’m off to Vilnius. So, a quick shout-out to Lithuania’s finest sweet that made a surprise appearance in another “publication” this week lmao. Back in Belarus, we call this сырок; but just saying that too might have complicated my immigration experience at the border…

Reading Update

It’s time for another reading update. This time, a quick heads-up: I omitted a bunch of German titles, like Das Versagen (on Germany’s failed Russia policy) or Polarisierung—as they’re less relevant to many of you. Still recommended.

I’ve also developed a small guilty pleasure. I’ve been listening to those Michael Wolff–style Trump ragebait books on Audible. Would I recommend them? No. It just fits my current mood for whatever reason.

Disclaimer for new subscribers: I typically read 20-30 books in parallel because I get bored easily and rarely finish books cover-to-cover. Most of the time, I browse through them and focus on chapters that catch my eye and/or are relevant to my current research interests. I also tend to read in clusters, diving into specific themes or topics at a time. Right now, I also have a lot of review copies on my desk. That might explain the rather eclectic mix.

Here is also a link to my last Reading Update.

• Quinn Slobodian—Muskismus: Aufstieg und Herrschaft eines Technoking
  // The New Right (SG: I might have a take-down of Slobodian coming out soon)

• Branko Milanovic—The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World
  // Geopolitics & Economics

  

• John Ganz—When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists and the Origins of Trumpism
  // The New Right (SG: Well, Orange Man Reading List)

• Uketsu—Strange Houses
  // Fiction (SG: If you’re on the lookout for an easy, unconventional read, these are pretty good. The new Uketsu drops in two weeks or so)

• Jana Puglierin—Wer verteidigt Europa?

  // Geopolitics & Defense (SG: I feel like a lot of these books are kinda slop; but usually I like Jana’s stuff)

  

• Hu AnYan—I Deliver Parcels in Beijing: One Man’s Quest to Speak the Truth about the Global Gig Economy
  // Cultural Critique

  

• Andrei Kolesnikov—The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin’s Ideology Took the Nation Hostage
  // The Study of Authoritarianism

  

• Maria Stepanova—The Disappearing Act
  // Fiction

  

• Rana Dasgupta—After Nations: The Making and Unmaking of a World Order
  // Geopolitics

• Paul Kelly—Against Post-Liberalism: Why ‘Family, Faith and Flag’ is a Dead End for the Left
  // Post-liberalism (SG: Review coming out soon)

• Matt Sleat—Post-Liberalism
  // Post-Liberalism (SG: Review coming out soon)

• Joe Studwell—How Africa Works
  // Africa

  

• Laura K. Field—Furious Minds: The Making of the Maga New Right
  // The New Right

• Harvey Mansfield—The Rise and Fall of Rational Control: The History of Modern Political Philosophy
  // Intellectual History (SG: Harvey Mansfield is maybe the most important Straussian of the day)

• Bartle Bull—Land Between the Rivers: A 5000-Year History of Iraq
  // History (SG: I’m not done with Iraq/Kurdistan yet)

Peace,
SG