Books and Event

Gergely Egedy. Neo-Conservatism in America: The Derailment of a Counter-Revolution. Review of a remarkable recent monograph on the movement of the neo-cons by Hungarian historian and political scientist Csaba Békés. (Az amerikai neokonzervativizmus - Egy kisiklott ellenforradalom. Századvég, Budapest, 2008).

Gáspár Gróh. Do Not Forget the Songs. Musicologist Bálint Sárközi published an idiosyncratic selection of Hungarian folk song, with scores and texts, annotated, which also includes specimens of the popular nóta, pseudo-folk songs created by 19th century amateurs and favored at drinking parties and weddings, but often sneered upon by intellectuals of a purist persuasion. (Nótáskönyv. Nap Kiadó, Budapest, 2010).

Jenő Szmodis. Is There a Way Out From the Labyrinth? Review of a new Hungarian work, by legal scholar Tamás Prugberger, on the recent relationships of globalism, neo-liberalism and the law, from the perspective of natural law. (Globalizáció, neo-liberalizmus és a jog. Kairosz, Budapest, 2008).

Zoltán Fáy. Catastrophe and Relief - Haiti. In the wake of the humanitarian disaster, our columnist on religious and church affairs examines the potential for self-help in Haitian society, and the substantial share of domestic and foreign religious organizations in relief operations.

Katalin Metz. Bohemians and Bibilical Heroes. Our theatre reviewer saw two succesful drama productions in Budapest, based on adaptations from other genres. For the Új Színház, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden was adapted by György Spiró, while the Örkény István Theatre debuted with the Aki Kaurismaki adaptation from Murger’s novel that had served as the basis of the opera libretto for La Bohéme.

Mihály Kubinszky. A Century of Reinforced Concrete. A survey of the international career of reinforced concrete, and especially the work of the major Hungarian masters who contributed to the development of the new technology and its language in spectacular works.

János G. Gáspár. Tasks and Hopes. Our domestic columnist surveys the strategic potentials that the new government will command in May, as well as the grave situation it will inherit from the bad governance of the outgoing left-liberal administration during its eight year tenure - failings that have also contributed to the deep crisis of the Left in Hungary.

Péter Ákos Bod. From Where to Where Has Our Country Fared in Eight Years? From a front runner of the democratic changes and economic transition, Hungary has become a paragon of faulty governance under four left-liberal governments since 2002. The Former Governor of the Hungarian National Bank looks at the major milestones of this downward curve.

On the front cover: Detail of the allegorical fresco of Temperance, after the 2005-2006 cleaning. Esztergom, Castle Museum. Photo-graph by restorer Zsuzsa Wierdl. The illustrations in this issue of Magyar Szemle accompany the essay Botticelli in Esztergom, by courtesy of Studiolo Kft.