Kenia verändert sich rasch und eine kleine Stiftung trägt nachhaltig zu diesem Wandel bei.

Arno Köster became acquainted with the land and people of Kenya over the course of numerous visits. He has initiated and coordinated sustainable projects for the Udo Lindenberg Foundation since 2011, focusing on education and water supply. “Hope for Kenya” tells of the successes, problems and outcomes of the aid. Stakeholders, aid workers, project leaders, as well as local partners and friends of the Udo Lindenberg Foundation have their say. Köster describes a country that is undergoing great changes. He draws a picture that reveals the numerous facets of Kenya between modernity and tradition, corruption and tribal politics, autocracy and democracy. Above it all rests the hope for a better future.

Alle reden über die Kinder aus Patchworkfamilien, doch wie geht es den Stiefmüttern?

Patchwork families are a common occurrence these days. Yet much too little is said about the women who take on the role of stepmother in these new family structures. More often than not, they see the addition to the family as an enrichment. But how do they deal with the situation if their partner’s children reject them? Or if they don’t manage to develop feelings for their “bonus children”? What happens when sharing a home with your new partner threatens to founder on issues concerning the children? Because there is no universal script for being a stepmother and each family’s story is unique, this extensive analysis of the situation is supplemented by contributions from women talking about their personal experiences. This is a multifaceted reading book on the topic: unadorned, honest and sanguine.

Authentische Einblicke in die historischen Ereignisse. Lebendig, persönlich und spannend.

1918 was a year of radical change and big emotions in Austria. How did the contemporary witnesses experience this time? The aristocracy, bourgeoisie and working classes have their say in authentic accounts. The book brings to light the extremely diverse assessments of that great upheaval. For some it signified the downfall of their homeland and their personal ruin, for others a hopeful new beginning: the mourning of Old Austria and the monarchy, hate for the aristocracy and the Habsburgs, the shock of having been defeated in war, embitterment and resignation, joy over the ending of the war and hope for better times. Gudula Walterskirchen has gathered previously unpublished letters, diaries and recollections which bring that year of great turmoil back to life.

Mit Haltung durchs Leben. Fundiert, ironisch, witzig.

Economic crises, the success of populist parties, the return of nationalistic reflexes, the rapidly advancing digitalisation of everyday life and work are reason enough for pessimism. Discussions are held in an increasingly aggressive tone, blatantly displayed ignorance rules the virtual and real-world debates. It seems as if everyone has an opinion, but nobody has any idea where the socio-political journey is taking us. All the more welcome is this guide for living in such unsettled times – knowledgeable and well-founded, yet with plenty of humour and irony. This is a book that engagingly addresses the big topics of the present age: populism, fear of downward mobility and pressure to perform, increased harshness of communication, yearning for leadership, anxiety about the future.

Islam und Ökologie: Wie passt das zusammen?

How does the Muslim world deal with ecological issues? What is different about Eco-Islam? When and where did the first initiatives spring up? And how do Muslims incorporate this new awareness into their daily lives? The Eco-Islam movement is a strong voice in the battle for climate protection, from the founding of the environmental protection organisation IFEES by the British national Fazlun Khalid, through to the international Istanbul Conference in 2015. Wider society also plays an important role, providing commitment and new solutions. Ursula Kowanda-Yassin casts a critical eye on Europe, the US, the Arab World and Asia. This book is the first to offer a journey through the diverse world of Muslim endeavours for sustainability.

Die Biografie eines großen Freigeists

Adolf Holl has many professions: priest, scholar, prophet, heretic, writer, provocateur and eroticist. Born in Vienna in 1930 and ordained to priesthood in 1954, his international best-seller “Jesus in Bad Company” (1971, originally published in German as “Jesus in schlechter Gesellschaft”) brought him into conflict with the Catholic Church. As a result, his licence to teach was withdrawn and he was suspended from his priestly duties. His quick-witted questioning earned him rebuke from church authorities, but also great prominence. Harald Klauhs, a highly knowledgeable authority on Holl’s work, has now written a biography of this wayward thinker. Holl’s life as a tour de force through western intellectual history is at the same time a description of the Second Austrian Republic.

Das Leben Egon Schieles in Zeiten des Umbruchs. Eine Expedition!

He was a controversial figure, decried as a pornographer, and had to fight for recognition. When Egon Schiele died of the Spanish flu at the age of 28, he left behind a vast oeuvre of 330 paintings and almost 3000 works on paper. Gregor Mayer portrays this extraordinary artist’s journey through life. He describes the context in which Schiele’s artistry developed and the sources from which he drew his inspiration. A sense of crisis, a notion of impending upheaval overshadowed the era in which Schiele was active. This outlook is not entirely alien to us. What makes this book particularly appealing is that Gregor Mayer succeeds in establishing a connection to our current times via Schiele’s life story.

Turbulent times: the invention of a new state

The war had come to an end, the monarchy was in ruins, the Kaiser abdicated. New states were hurriedly formed: one of them called itself the Republic of German-Austria. As yet, no borders had been defined for the new state, there was no constitution to govern the political structure. German-Austria wanted to attach itself to the German Reich, Vorarlberg to Switzerland and a few territories flirted with free-state ideas. At the same time, the founding years of the First Republic were also a great awakening towards modernity. They laid the basis for a social democracy, included women in the political process and brought a new zest for life. The authors provide a panoramic view of the experimental laboratory of a nation’s self-discovery – leading to the birth of the Austrian Republic.

From the Eurofighter skandal to the Burgtheater affair

Who can see through the jungle of Austria’s latest economic scandals? What caused them, who was pulling which strings and who made money out of them? Following years of research, investigative journalist Ashwien Sankholkar looks for answers and documents the nation’s most controversial corruption cases. Each one is like a crime thriller – from the Eurofighter scandal to the Buwog affair, from the Telekom Austria case to the Burgtheater scandal. But how did the mismanagement occur? Was it preventable? What could repeat itself? Sankholkar delivers a highly topical chronicle of the scandals and sketches out his personal approach regarding solutions. It is a spectacular book that provides a valuable contribution to the debate.

Searching for the original period sound

Nikolaus Harnoncourt devoted himself to the study of early music, the way it is played and the sound of period instruments from an early age. In 1953 he founded the famous Concentus Musicus with his wife Alice and other musicians. This was to provide a forum for his work on period instruments and the historic performance practice of renaissance and baroque music. It was not until four years later that the Concentus Musicus first performed in public. Alice Harnoncourt has brought together the unpublished diary entries and notes of her husband, which recount his explorations on the trail of early musical sounds. It is a fascinating and entertaining journey, during which Harnoncourt had to accomplish much to listen his way towards the original period sound.