Thought News Center
It's time for the year-end review awards again. In this month's book list, we have selected the ten good books of 2020 that we think are in our opinion through nomination and voting. The 12 editors of the Thought News Center, each nominating 5 new books published in 2020 (excluding reprints), nominated a total of 53 books, and after three rounds of voting, finalized the following 10 good books of the year. Due to our limited reading, the shortlisted new books are mainly in the humanities and social sciences, and the selection results only represent the preferences of the department, which is inevitable to miss a thousand.
1
Foreign Guest Shops in the USSR: Gold Needed for Industrialization
[Russian] Yelena Alexandrovna Oginna / By Shi Haijie / Translation, Life, Reading, New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, August 2020 edition
Nominee: Zhong Yuan
Testimonials:
The "All-Union Commodity Supply Company for Foreign Guests" (hereinafter referred to as the "Foreign Guest Shop", July 18, 1930 – February 1, 1936) appeared in the era of the severe foreign exchange crisis in the process of soviet industrialization. Initially, foreign guest shops sold antiques only to foreign tourists in Moscow and Leningrad, and supplied foreign seafarers in various Soviet ports; in December 1930, the customers of foreign guest shops had expanded to foreigners working in the Soviet Union; from June 1931, Soviet citizens could buy goods in foreign guest shops using tsaric gold coins or through cross-border foreign exchange transfers; and at the end of 1931, the Soviet leadership allowed the public to buy goods using gold products (jewelry, household utensils). Gradually, foreign guest shops could collect silver, platinum, diamonds, gemstones, and works of art from the hands of the public. Between 1932 and 1935, Soviet citizens contributed about 100 tons of gold to foreign guest shops, roughly equivalent to 40 percent of the gold mined by "citizens" in the Soviet Union during the same period. Focusing on the business activities of "foreign guest shops" and the sources of funds for the country's industrialization construction, this book presents the dynamic process of Soviet social development in the 1930s under the background of industrial construction with detailed historical materials. With the specific phenomenon of "foreign guest shops", the author truly reproduces the social life of the Soviet Union under the intertwined background of industrialization, agricultural collectivization, famine, food rationing system and other events, and further unveils the "mystery" of social reality hidden under the dazzling aura of ideals.
2
The Complete First Edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales
[De] Jacob Green, William Green / Author [Beauty] Jack Chipps / Note Yao Has/ Translation, People's Literature Publishing House · 99 Reader, October 2020 edition
Nominator: Zhu Fan
Every time I opened Grimm's Fairy Tales as a child, it was as if I had entered another world, a beautiful world full of dangers, injustices and impermanence, but most of the time courage, love and miracles were better. It wasn't until I learned a little about folklore that I realized that these fascinating stories had a more profound cultural implication. The Brothers Grimm, with the original intention of discovering German history and culture, collected folk tales and ancient legends, starting with the publication of the first volume in 1812 and the second volume of the Children and Family Stories in 1815, and after decades of continuous revision, rewriting and addition, the seventh edition, which came out in 1857, finally became the standard version. Academics believe that these repeatedly polished texts were influenced by Christian and middle-class culture, and lost some of their natural folk style while tending to be artistic. However, even readers in the English-speaking world will not be able to see the original appearance of the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales until 2014, which is also the base of the Chinese translation, and the source of the story and the flow of the version are clearly introduced. Once illuminated by intricately carved gemstones, it is a blessing to now be able to glimpse the brilliance of the jade when it is not chiseled.
3
"Return to Hometown"
Didier Eripong / Wang Xian / Translation, Shanghai Culture Publishing House, Houlang, July 2020 edition
Nominees: Han Shaohua, Gong Siliang, Ding Xiongfei, Zhu Fan, Zang Jixian
How do you describe the book? Is it a souvenir book about individuals and families? Critical and documentary texts about French intellectuals, universities and even French society? Or think of it as a book written to yourself trying to find your identity and answer the question of "Who am I?"
The part of the book that is most closely related to the current political polarization atmosphere in Europe and the United States stems from the author's question: "In my childhood, our family supported the 'Communist Party', which constituted our only political vision and our organizing principles. So why did voting for the far right or the right become possible, and sometimes even natural, in my family? By answering this seemingly contradictory and even inconceivable question, the author shows us the political thinking of the French working class family and the disappointment of the left. After witnessing "the 'workers' movement and its traditions, its struggles, but also the working class itself, their culture, their standard of living, their aspirations ... After disappearing from the political realm, the intellectual realm, the public space", the author records his mother's disappointed remarks: "Left, right, there is no difference, they are all the same, they are all the same group of people paying." "When people abandon discussion of exploration and resistance and instead talk about 'necessary modernization' and 'social reconstruction'; The topic of 'co-existence' replaces the topic of class relations; the topic of 'individual responsibility' replaces the topic of society's influence on the fate of the individual. The concept of oppression, and the theme of structural polarization between the oppressor and the oppressed, disappeared from the official political picture of the left parties, and what emerged was the neutral concepts of 'social contract', 'social consensus', in which each individual had equal rights and that people should forget their 'personal interests'. After such a dramatic shift in intellectual circles and public space, voters who once supported the left felt neglected and betrayed, and the author's mother admitted years later that she had supported the far-right National Front.
Perhaps more worth pondering is whether the deviation from the left is really so incredible when the left trusted by the people at the bottom can no longer represent their interests and ideals, when voters feel ignored and betrayed. Even if the ruling class can use new words and concepts to "confuse" the people, the real life of the people day after day will eventually wake them up and puncture the seemingly beautiful lies.
4
Translation of Exotic Things: Horse Racing, Dog Racing and Pull-Back Ball Races in Modern Shanghai
Ning Zhang, Social Sciences Academic Press, Qiwei, August 2020
Nominee: Peng Shanshan
How to view the introduction of foreign things is a complex issue for cities that have experienced colonization or invasion. A deliberate avoidance of the sensitive past, or a flat interpretation of the shackles of national sentiment, does not contribute to a complete understanding of history. "Translation of Exotic Things" takes a different approach, using the perspective of a bystander to observe the interaction of different cultures, showing the author's profound skills in this field of research for many years.
The Translation of Exotic Things looks at Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century through "movement", and the topic is interesting and rigorous. The author uses "transliteration" to describe the cultural tug-of-war and deformation that occur in the process of introduction of foreign things, and analyzes the three sports of horse running, dog running and pull-back ball race in Shanghai. Horse racing culture was introduced from Britain, and China not only gradually parted ways with Britain in terms of horses and gambling methods, but also the Chinese elite used this as a strategy to "whitewash" their identity, and the green gang gangsters used it to gather with British gentlemen, where the most important class nature in British horse racing was broken. In addition, the original ornamental components of horse racing, dog racing and pull-back ball races introduced into China are becoming weaker and weaker, but the gambling components are increasingly strengthened, and these original "ornamental sports" are deconstructed and redefined here, completing different levels of "translation".
In addition to the interpretation of "cultural translation", the insight of this book is also an analysis of the relationship between "movement" and "colonization": movement is a cultural export like railway trains and public health, but it also involves the core values of the West, and when the colonized person competes according to the rules of the colonial home country, it represents a certain identification with his values, a reshaping of the way of life and the concept of life, "the impact is not inferior to the change of the political system."
5
Breast Milk and Milk: Reshaping the Role of Mothers in Modern China (1895-1937)
Shuying Lu/Author, East China Normal University Press, Peppermint Experiment, June 2020
The popularity of milk in modern China is not only related to the transformation of food culture, but also changes and reshapes the social situation of the role of "mother". This book explores how cow's breastfeeding has arisen in modern times, and although it tells the story of a hundred years ago, it writes many problems that still exist today from a caring perspective: the glorified and glorified breastfeeding and the pain of being deliberately obscured, the contradiction between maternal work and women's careers, the seemingly pluralistic choices brought about by technological development, and the ideological constraints brought about by the traditional gender division of labor... The beauty of this book is that the author tells a vivid story through solid case combing, through the parenting diaries of women (there are also a few men) in the Republic of China, confession articles or interviews with others, literary works, presenting the "mother's choice", writing out the mother's response, compromise and resistance. These questions in the book are not specially set up to cater to the current social hotspots, but truly exist in the transcripts and dissections of that year. Thinking about some of the recent debates on women's issues, it may take more than a hundred years for some voices to be heard and respected.
6
"Fen Shen: The New Japan Theory"
Li Yongjing/Author, Beijing United Publishing Company: One Page Folio, January 2020 edition
Nominees: Huang Xiaofeng, Peng Shanshan
For China, the "Japan question" is a symbol of the conflict between tradition and modernity, East and West, which is a symbol of the conflict between tradition and modernity, East and West; "knowing Japan" can be said to be "knowing oneself." But the process is fraught with a clash of blood and fire. The author believes that China and Japan see each other in each other's "fen shen" and see "another self", and the two construct and create each other within the same system. From this, the author puts forward a new view on the historical reconciliation between China and Japan and the possibility and significance of the construction of the East Asian community. The object of direct discussion in the book is the spiritual mechanism or spiritual secret of the rise of modern Japan, but through the relationship mode of "fen shen", this discussion can be directed at any time to a psychoanalysis of ourselves and of China since modern times. The author has made a delicate and unique analysis of the evolution and entanglement of East Asian concepts, world views, Confucian concepts, and even nationalism in modern Japan, and these concepts are precisely what we Chinese should face up to.
7
Winter is Coming: Notes from the TV Series
Mao Jian/Author, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, June 2020 edition
Nominee: Ding Xiongfei
"Winter is Coming" is a collection of Mao Jian's TV drama reviews of the past twenty years, from the biography of Zhen Huan in the Yongzheng Dynasty, the rural love next to Downton Manor, to the Game of Thrones on the Langya list, from Ni Dahong's "eye bags", Hu Ge's "face", to Sun Honglei's "thin eyeliner", from the 24 hours of the twelve hours of Chang'an, to the three lives of Kyushu, from 1566 to 1988: Mao Jian did not let go of a single one. According to her, the length of the film is no longer enough to express the endless life of the super-industrial era, but the TV series can meet the traditional milk addiction and modern fast addiction of contemporary audiences in the form of story flow and the speed of the story element, which will always make you thirsty, but never cut you off. Following the mao-tip little devil-like text, revisiting the human fireworks of that episode and season, we remember the very sinful and very beautiful in these years, but the night is short and the dream is long, and now we who are tired of doubling the speed are still willing to play a day and a night?
8
"Pampered Mind: How did "Steel" not be refined? 》
【Beauty】 Greg Lukinov, Jonathan Haidt/ Tian Lei, Su Xin/Translation, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, July 2020 edition
Nominees: Fang Xiaoyan, Han Shaohua
In 2015, two authors of the book discussed the "fragile student model" in universities, published in The Atlantic, originally titled "The More Contentious, the More Sad: How Do College Campuses Lead to Cognitive Distortions?" Before publication, the editor changed the title to "The Pampered American Mind." The huge response to the article and the unoppostic environment on and off campus in the years that followed prompted them to conduct a more serious and in-depth collaborative study of the issues involved, culminating in the book.
The author argues that young students' fragile self-design, in which they respond with fear and anger to so-called "triggering" and "uncomfortable" remarks, book materials, and foreign speakers, is because they are taught to get used to binary thinking, indulge in immediate emotional reactions, and thus fall into cognitive distortions such as "fussing" and "negative filtering", which only makes them more vulnerable, anxious and vulnerable after leaving the last "psychological exercise center" of the university.
The problems of universities do not begin with colleges, and certainly do not end up in colleges, and the so-called "pampering" means "overprotectiveness" – from the prohibition of bringing peanuts to the primary school campus to the speech regulations in universities – it is the "airbags" created by the whole society, from the school to the parents, that bring about this series of adverse consequences. The anxious parenting style of "helicopter parents", the decline of free play without being arranged and unattended, the arms race of academics and resumes, the interpersonal isolation and social comparison brought about by social media, the lack of offline life experience, the overreacting and over-regulated campus bureaucracy, etc. - behind the simple conclusion that "it is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish" are overlapped with too many causal chains that deserve our consideration and vigilance. "Today's college students grow up with their children's interests in mind, but they often do not give them the freedom to develop anti-fragility in human nature without restraint. Securityism is a deprivation of young people, and what they lose as a result is precisely the experience needed to fight the fragile mind. ”
9
Disappearing: The True Future of Digital Work
【Beauty】Mary L. Gray and Sidalt Suri/ Zuo Anpu/ Translation, Shanghai People's Publishing House, Century Wenjing, October 2020 edition
Worse than robots taking away human jobs is when humans toil in the shadow of the behemoth of technology, but are no longer seen and recognized. Today's artificial intelligence and full automation, separated by a "last mile" that is likely to never be completed, requires human knowledge of the world to fill, and content moderators on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter play such a role. This doesn't mean that people who do creative work like writing, research, software development, and more can sit back and relax in the face of ghost work. In the early 2000s, when the young startup Amazon electronically extracted data from publishers and library catalogs in order to expand its online bookstore, most of the entries had various errors, and like other technology companies, Amazon initially hired a large number of temporary workers to clean up the entries, and as the business expanded, in 2005 Amazon launched a new website called "Amazon Mechanical Turk" (MTurk). Registered users can more easily clean up product lists and user reviews full of typos. Mturk isn't just an internal tool of Amazon, but an online labor marketplace where people with "requester" accounts can post tasks, and when online workers complete tasks, the system automatically pays them. From ride-hailing to delivery platforms, this form of employment without intermediaries and labor security is now everywhere, but perhaps many people do not know that there are also shared temporary worker platforms that publish more complex tasks such as subtitle translation, news editing, engineering design and so on. If we don't try to understand this trend in the world of work, the future of digital work may catch us off guard. "Anyone who is working and wants to know the future should read The Disappeared."
10
The Multiple Faces of Injustice
【Beauty】Judith N. Shiklei / By Qian Yiyi / Translation, Shanghai People's Publishing House, April 2020 edition
Nominee: Gong Siliang
The study of justice and morality has always been a central issue in philosophical circles, and discussions in this area can be traced back even to Plato's Republic. In contrast, many philosophers lack attention to "injustice", as if people are born with the ability to discern injustice. However, Judith Shklar systematically divides the concept of injustice in his book The Multiple Faces of Injustice, reintroducing this important concept into the discussion of moral philosophy.
There was a voice that believed that injustice and justice are two sides of the same coin, and that knowing one side is enough to identify the other, but Shclair explains to the reader the complexity of the concept of injustice through the contrast between injustice and misfortune. In fact, In this book, Shkreli refuses to provide a clear distinction between injustice and unhappiness, and even if there is a distinction between unhappiness and injustice, it is by no means a single, a priori, definite distinction, for: "The distinction between unhappiness and injustice is often related to our will and ability, depending on whether we act in the position of the victim, whether we condemn or acquit, whether we offer help, to solve problems, to make reparations, or to turn around and walk away." (p. 4) For Shclair himself, the theme of the book is not to challenge existing theories about justice, but to examine the concept of injustice from a more serious and direct perspective, to appreciate the pervasive voices of victims.
Also shortlisted for nominations is —
Chernobyl: A Tragic History
Shahili Purokji / Song Hong, Cui Rui / Translation, Guangdong People's Publishing House, July 2020 edition
The Dark Of Wang Qi: A History of Shaanxi in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties
Qin Hui/Author, Shanxi People's Publishing House, August 2020 edition
"Tell you that tomorrow our family will be killed - Chronicle of the Rwandan Genocide"
Philip Gurevich/ by Li Lei/Translation, Nanjing University Press, Sanhui Books, July 2020
After the Tower of Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation
George Steiner/ Author, Meng Xing/Translation, Zhejiang University Press, Qizhenguan, September 2020 edition
The Gender of Modernity
【Beauty】 Rita Firsky / Chen Lin / Translation Dan Hansong / Proofreader, Nanjing University Press, Watchmen, June 2020 edition
What is Populism?
Jan-Werner Miller/ By Qian Jingyuan/Translation, Translation, May 2020 edition
Don't You Return: A Survey of Three And Young People
Feng Tian and Kaixuan Lin/Author, Dolphin Press/New Classic Amber, August 2020 edition
The Holocaust: A New History
Lawrence Rees/ Zhu Rendong/Translation, Translation Forest Press, April 2020 edition
The Silk Road: Twelve Tang Dynasty Lives
Wei Hong/Author Wang Shujing, Mo Jiajing/Translation, Sichuan People's Publishing House, Republic, April 2020
"The Great Shuffle" of the Western Han Dynasty Court: The Political Game Before and After Emperor Wen of Han's Succession to the Great Unification
Sun Jiazhou/Author, Chinese Min University Press, July 2020 edition
The Country World of Land Travel
Bao Weimin/Author, Social Sciences Academic Press, September 2020 edition
The New Biography of Su Dongpo
Li Yibing/, Sichuan People's Publishing House, Houlang, July 2020 edition
《Burning Paper》
[Han] Li Cangdong / by Jin Ran / Translation, Wuhan University Press, May 2020 edition
《Yasujiro Ozu, All-Day》
【Sun】Yasujiro Ozu, Masumi Tanaka / Zhou Ying/译, Shanghai 译bun Publishing Co., Ltd., February 2020 edition
The Third Reich in Power
[English] Richard M. J. Evans/Author: Philosopher's House/Translation, Kyushu Publishing House, Republic, February 2020 edition
Out of the Only Truth
Chen Jiaying/Author, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, May 2020 edition
Ten Lectures on Hermeneutics of Ancient Chinese Literature
Yukai Zhou, Fudan University Press, January 2020
Original Hegemony: The Evolution of Hegemony
Perry Anderson / By Li Yan / Translation, Contemporary World Press, May 2020 edition
The History of Huai JuXin: Qian Zhongshu's Self and Its Micro-World
Wang Rongzu/Author, Zhonghua Bookstore, March 2020 edition
Flag Man Style: The Life Cycle of an Old Beijinger
Luo Xinyao/Luo Jinde/Translation, Wenjin Publishing House, August 2020 edition
The Academic Life of Qian Zhongshu
Wang Shuizhao/Author, Zhonghua Bookstore, November 2020 edition
Heroes and Wonders of the Middle Ages
【French】Jacques Legov/By Lu Zexin/Translation, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, Houlang, May 2020 edition
The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture
[Plus] Robert Falford / By Li Lei / Translation, Nanjing University Press, Sanhui Books, July 2020 edition
Dangerous Relationships: The Road to Love, Betrayal and Repair
[Belgium] Esther Perrier / Author Zhaoxin / Translation, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, Qingdou Bookstore, January 2020 edition
Cultural Amnesia: Written on the Edge of Time
[Australia] Clive James/Ding Jun, Zhang Nan, Sheng Yun, Feng Jieyin/Translation, Beijing Daily Publishing House, Republic, October 2020 edition
"But Will Talk and Laugh wash away desolation: The Political Situation and Characters of the Late Qing Dynasty"
Jiang Ming/Author, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, January 2020 edition
Strangers in the Homeland: The Anger and Sorrow of Conservatives in America
[Beauty] Allie Russell Hochhild / by Xia Fan / Translation, Social Sciences Literature Press, May 2020 edition
"The Existing Collection"
Liu Zheng/Author, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, July 2020 edition
Selected Translations of Qian Daosun
Cai Chunhua/ed., The Commercial Press, July 2020 edition
The Left Wing with Sound: Poetry Recitation and the Body Technique of Revolutionary Literature and Art
Kang Ling/Author, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, July 2020 edition
The Witcher: A History of Fear
Ronald Hutton/ Zhao Kai, Wang Chun/Translation, Guangxi Normal University Press, September 2020
Soldiers on Paper: Notes on the History of Ancient Chinese Warfare
Zhang Mingyang/Author, Shanxi People's Publishing House, Hantang Sunshine, September 2020 edition
Copywriting Chapter 3: A Handbook for Book Editing
Huang Jiwei/Author, Yilin Publishing House, July 2020 edition
Interpretation of the Zhou Meditations
Tao Hongjing/Author Wang Jiakui/Proofreader, Zhonghua Bookstore, May 2020 edition
"Respecting the Right Army with Wings sacred religion"
【Italian】Bi Luo/Author, Sichuan People's Publishing House, May 2020 edition
Investigation of Qing Dynasty Relics
Liu Xiaomeng/Author, Social Science Press, September 2020
A Guide to Comic Writing: Screenplay Writing
[Law] Jean-Marc Leine, Sylvain Delzang / Cui Dachuan / Translation, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House Houlang, April 2020 edition
Immortal Disease
Zheng Zhi/Author, Beijing Daily Publishing House, Republic, October 2020 edition
Love in the Dark Ages: From Wilde to Almodóvar
[Ireland] Colm Tobin / by Bai Que / Translation, People's Literature Publishing House , 99 Readers, January 2020 edition
Fragments
Elena Ferrante/ By Chen Ying/Translation, People's Literature Publishing House, 99 Readers, October 2020 edition
"If You Hear Meow"
Wen Zhen, Zhu Tianxin, Chen Zishan, et al., Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, June 2020 edition
Reading Romance Novels: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature
【Beauty】Janice A. Radway/ By Hu Shuchen / Translation, Yilin Publishing House, July 2020 edition
Modern Latin American Literature
Roberto Gonzalez Echevirya / Translated by Jin Wei, Translation Forest Press, March 2020 edition
Editor-in-Charge: Gu Ming