Bøker av Daniel Wollenberg

The election of fringe political parties on the far and extreme right across Europe since spring 2014 has brought the political discourse of "e;old Europe"e; and "e;tradition"e; to the foreground. Writers and politicians on the right have called for the reclamation, rediscovery, and return of the spirit of national identities rooted in the medieval past. Though the "e;medieval"e; is often deployed as a stigmatic symbol of all that is retrograde, against modernity, and barbaric, the medieval is increasingly being sought as a bedrock of tradition, heritage, and identity. Both characterizations - the medieval as violent other and the medieval as vital foundation - are mined and studied in this book. It examines contemporary political uses of the Middle Ages to ask why the medieval continues to play such a prominent role in the political and historical imagination today.