Die Neuerfindung eines Naturprodukts – zwischen Mythos und Wahrheit

Milk is traditionally seen as a healthy staple food, especially in the western world. But its image has seen a significant shift in recent years. Since the cessation of EU milk quotas, the dairy industry has focused on increased production and on opening up new markets, especially in the Asian world. This expansion is leading to changes in the methods of animal husbandry. The rapid development divides milk producers into winners and losers of the restructuring. But what form of milk production do the farmers and consumers want? How healthy is milk in truth? And why is the milk market booming in the first place? What are the positive and negative aspects of this industry? Thomas Stollenwerk has written a factual book about milk that leaves no question unanswered.

Im Jahr 1999 wurden weltweit Entscheidungen getroffen, die sich als Brandbeschleuniger herausstellten. Eine überraschende Analyse.

Around the world, decisions were made in 1999 that transpired to be highly incendiary. Laczynski delivers a surprising analysis. Financial bubbles and debt crises, Wladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the rise of China and the demise of Europe, talent shows and "Game of Thrones". Smart phones and social networks, populists and self-promoters, internet billionaires and Me Incs, 9/11 and the endless wars in the Near East – many of the developments that have shaped our era of crises and conflicts have their roots in 1999. It was a time when the future seemed within reach and the hope for world peace and prosperity for all seemed justified rather than naive. "Future's last year. How 1999 changed the world" details how the carnival of optimism came to an end and the course was set for the return of a past we thought had long been overcome.

Katharina Pressl's debut novel is a call to arms against day-to-day life: wry, preposterous and pretty dangerous.

What's to be done when ordinary life simply becomes too much? When your mother has to go into residential care and the family home must be cleared out and let. When everyone expects the narrator to finally look for a sensible job and start a family? When normality-induced melancholia hits, there's only one thing for it – hit back. Ideally where it’s least expected. A revolt is instigated in the care home; Jola delivers inflammatory speeches in her sequinned gown; the local youth gang of "domestic poachers" turns life in the small town upside down; a kidnapping morphs into a seaside mini-break, much to the delight of the home's residents. And then suddenly Malina appears. Malina, who’s prepared to do almost anything and sometimes oversteps the mark.

A thrilling odyssey and a touching story of emigration.

There is a longing. A longing for a certain sensation, for a home town called Damascus, for the smell of jasmine. Jad Turjman is a young Syrian who enjoys his life to the full until war breaks out. When his call-up order arrives, he is quick to decide: fleeing to Europe is his only option if he wants to escape certain death. His chosen path is risky and arduous, but he encounters five "guardian angels" along the way. Eventually Turjman arrives in a place that he did not seek, where he is able to plant his jasmine again. Jad Turjman describes his escape with unparalleled intensity and sharp humour, subjecting the reader to a roller-coaster of emotions. Breathtaking.

It's time to rediscover a radical author.

Who was Gerhard Fritsch? One of the most significant Austrian authors of the post-war era, to be named in the same breath as Hans Lebert or Thomas Bernhard? A highly active literary figure, who as a reviewer, editor, critic and member of numerous juries significantly influenced the literary world of his time? A driven individual, who was married three times, fathered four children and in the end hanged himself dressed in women's clothes? The author of "Moos auf den Steinen" and "Fasching" who cut his life short was all that and more. Accessible to the public for the first time, his diaries offer an insight into his creative crises, flights of fancy and private transvestite yearnings. But above all, they show us Gerhard Fritsch as a tireless writer and enable an entirely new reading of his work.

Peter Rosei's great Vienna novel, finally available again!

"Whatever you need, you take" Vienna in a gold rush: World War two is over, the black markets are booming, and shady characters are on their way to a new life. The brilliant first part of Rosei's cycle "Wiener Dateien" (Vienna files) span the period from corruption in postwar Vienna to the fancy homes of affluent business people in the 1980s. With artistic ease, he creates an intricate web entangling the lives of parvenus and bon vivants, professors and politicians, perfect wives and superwomen. At the center of it all are Alfred and Georg, two very different friends: One is an anarchist, the other a baby boomer. Rosei's novel is intense, enthusiastically written prose portraying a city where everything has its price and nothing is sacred…

Henriette Lauber can look back at a life full of creativity and hard work. As a film cutter she experienced different worlds while working alongside her beloved husband. But all this was long ago and now she leads a withdrawn and almost isolated life in a small flat in the center of town. Her godson from Western Sahara, a politically active man who works in Algerian refugee camps, is the sole recipient of her love and attention. Then a dizzy spell in the hallway leads her to meet Linda, her young neighbor who begins to take care of Henriette and increasingly seeks her presence… Erika Pluhar tells the story of a friendship between to very different women, describing life patterns, the process of aging, and transience.

Zur Erinnerung an Thomas Bernhard: eine ganz besondere Ausgabe, gestaltet von Erwin Wurm. Eines der schönsten Bücher Österreichs 2019.

In memory of his idol Thomas Bernhard, the internationally renowned artist Erwin Wurm has created a unique special edition. In dedication to the author, Wurm has produced a series of new drawings – affectionate, wry and very personal. "The Cause" and its consequences: in five stories between fact and fiction Thomas Bernhard laid bare how he became the author he was – from his childhood and boarding school days in Salzburg, his apprenticeship and studies, through to his isolation in a lung sanatorium at the age of eighteen. Those who want to understand Thomas Bernhard's world will find the key to it here.

Engagierte Literatur im besten Sinne: zeitgenössisch, poetisch und radikal.

One December evening, a bright pink long-distance bus bearing the inscription SPERANZA sets off on its journey from Vienna to Romania. The nocturnal drive brings together people who spend their life in the grey zones of Europe’s labour market. Their pay secures their family’s subsistence, their absence creates new problems. Florin hires himself out as a harvest hand to enable his mother in Bucharest to retire. Daiana cleans private homes in Vienna, even though she has a degree. Ioan, one of the drivers, recounts his first border crossing. “Autobus Ultima Speranza” finds a language for a life spent continuously on the hop, for the hopes and disappointments, the restlessness and structural violence that accompany it.

Angst ist ein Grundgefühl des Menschen, doch sie sollte nicht über den Menschen bestimmen.

Fear is a basic human emotion, but it shouldn’t rule a person’s life. Everyone feels fear at certain times. It is a primal feeling that can dominate our being. Nothing is as defining as mental anxiety. Fear paralyses us. Makes us ill. But it can also drive us to peak performance. Fear opens the gates of the human psyche for numerous mental disturbances: Panic, phobias and personal worries, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders and addictions. What is the nature of fear? What function does it have? How can fear be utilised or overcome? Why do people seek out fear by watching horror films or by participating in extreme sports? In their new book, Georg Psota and Michael Horowitz provide answers to these questions and present a way out of fear.