Overview

Maria Todorova’s book is devoted to the ‘golden age’ of the socialist idea, broadly surveying the period in and around the time of the Second International. It critically examines the promise for an alternative socialist utopia from 1870 to the 1920s. Todorova brings in the experience of the periphery in a comparative context in the belief that the margins can often elucidate better the character of a phenomenon, and de-provincialize it from essentialist notions. In doing so, The Lost World of Socialists at Europe’s Margins moves beyond the traditional historiographical emphasis on ideology by looking at different intersections or entanglements of spaces, generations, genders, ideas and feelings, and different flows of historical time. The study provides a social and cultural history of early socialism in Eastern Europe with an emphasis on Bulgaria, arguably the country with the earliest and strongest socialist movement in Southeast Europe, and one that had a unique relationship to both German and Russian social democracy. Based on a rich prosopographical database of around 3500 biographies of people born in the 19th century, the book addresses the interplay of several generations of leftists, looking at the specifics of how ideas were generated, received, transferred and transformed. Finally, the work investigates the intersection between subjectivity and memory as reflected in a unique cache of archival materials containing over 4000 documentary sources including diaries, oral interviews, and unpublished memoirs. A microhistorical approach to this material allows the reconstruction of ‘structures of feeling’ that inspired an exceptional group of individuals.

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9781350201835

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Reviews

Todorova is particularly good at bringing to life specific individuals caught up in the Bulgarian socialist movement. The practical, romantic, and ideological world of these young idealists (who then, alas, grew old) opens up new insights into the history of Europe, socialism, and the Balkans. * CHOICE * This brilliant study by Maria Todorova makes crucial contributions both to the history of European socialism and the history of southeastern Europe, while also offering a pioneering investigation of the history of the sentiments and emotions in relation to political thought. * Larry Wolff, Julius Silver Professor of History, New York University, USA * The Bulgarian socialist movement was one of the main intellectual transmitter belts for political, social and economic ideas between Russia, Western Europe and Germany--the stronghold of international socialism before World War I--on the one hand and post-Ottoman Bulgaria on the other. Maria Todorova brilliantly reconstructs a lost world : The pan-European network of socialist theoreticians and activists like Blagoev and Kautsky, Kirkov and Trotsky, and many others. A must read for every Europeanist! * Stefan Troebst, Professor of East European Cultural History, Leipzig University, Germany * A triumphant vindication of the historian's view from the periphery. Using Bulgaria as the fulcrum for her analysis, Todorova challenges taken-for-granted approaches to early European socialism, while at the same time re-animating the ideas, experiences and emotions of men and women who shared the potent dream of 'a utopia of the future'. * Wendy Bracewell, Professor of Southeast European History, University College London, UK * A rich history of socialist militants from outside the movement's Western Europe core. * The Jacobin *

Todorova is particularly good at bringing to life specific individuals caught up in the Bulgarian socialist movement. The practical, romantic, and ideological world of these young idealists (who then, alas, grew old) opens up new insights into the history of Europe, socialism, and the Balkans. * CHOICE * A rich history of socialist militants from outside the movement's Western Europe core. * The Jacobin * Specialists will be drawn to Todorova's uncanny ability to question established interpretations and offer fresh perspectives from the periphery. Advanced students will profit as Todorova walks readers through the process of making sense of data, archival fragments, and varied theoretical approaches to connect personal dramas to national and continental developments. * Austrian History Yearbook * This brilliant study by Maria Todorova makes crucial contributions both to the history of European socialism and the history of southeastern Europe, while also offering a pioneering investigation of the history of the sentiments and emotions in relation to political thought. * Larry Wolff, Julius Silver Professor of History, New York University, USA * The Bulgarian socialist movement was one of the main intellectual transmitter belts for political, social and economic ideas between Russia, Western Europe and Germany--the stronghold of international socialism before World War I--on the one hand and post-Ottoman Bulgaria on the other. Maria Todorova brilliantly reconstructs a lost world : The pan-European network of socialist theoreticians and activists like Blagoev and Kautsky, Kirkov and Trotsky, and many others. A must read for every Europeanist! * Stefan Troebst, Professor of East European Cultural History, Leipzig University, Germany * A triumphant vindication of the historian's view from the periphery. Using Bulgaria as the fulcrum for her analysis, Todorova challenges taken-for-granted approaches to early European socialism, while at the same time re-animating the ideas, experiences and emotions of men and women who shared the potent dream of 'a utopia of the future'. * Wendy Bracewell, Professor of Southeast European History, University College London, UK *

Author Information

Maria Todorova is Gutgsell Professor of History Emerita at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA. She is the author of Imagining the Balkans (revised edition, 2009), which has been translated into 15 languages; Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero (2009); Balkan Family Structure and the European Pattern: Demographic Developments in Ottoman Bulgaria (revised edition, 2006); and Scaling the Balkans: Essays on Eastern European Entanglements (2018). She led large scale international research projects resulting in several edited and co-edited volumes, including: Balkan Identities: Nation and Memory (2002); Remembering Communism: Genres of Representation (2010); Postcommunist Nostalgia (2010);and Remembering Communism: Private and Public Recollections of Lived Experiences in Southeastern Europe (2014). She has held awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, the National Humanities Center, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and The Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, and is the recipient of honorary degrees from the European University Institute in Italy, the University of Sofia, Bulgaria and Panteion University in Greece. In 2022, she received the Distinguished Contributions to Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Award and was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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