In some ways, re-examining the intellectual history of Europe and the world in the XX century entails locating old ideals of democracy and community and relating them to what they have evolved into today. But do they have a chance to function in a different context?

What distinguishes Tony Judt's book, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century?

Before we get into how to solve 21st-century problems, let's talk about Tony Judt's book Reappraisals. It is a collection of Judt's articles, most of which are book reviews, for European, American, and Middle Eastern periodicals.

These are very intellectually rich reviews, with many of the author's thoughts on issues relevant to the books he reviews. However, they remain book reviews and reflections on topics that were current at the time of writing.

It is interesting, but not very productive, to seek guidance from them that can meet current needs. Almost half of the articles are about significant figures from the twentieth century, and not all are positive.

For example, Judt criticizes the leftists Louis Althusser and Eric Hobsbawm, as well as Pope John Paul II.

What lessons can we draw from Tony Judt's intellectual history to help us solve the twenty-first century's already visible problems? What are these ideals, in your opinion, and are they realistically achievable today?

Some of Tony Judt's rethinkings have not aged well, such as his article on Romania's accession to the European Union, in which Romania is portrayed as an extremely unpromising EU member, in contrast to Hungary, which appeared to be a promising European country at the time of writing.

Or an article about the competition between the United States and Europe; most of the topics that were popular in the early 2000s have since lost their relevance. Instead, the two articles on Israel and Palestine still read as if they were written for today's agenda.

It's a stretch to say that the articles about Western intellectuals' attitudes toward the Soviet Union are similar to the problems we face. These sentiments sometimes evolved into feelings toward Russia, which we found difficult to deal with at the beginning of a full-scale war.

Some of the articles express a longing for the sinful fall of liberalism in the United States, rather than a search for democratic ideals. However, the context Judt describes was relevant in the early 2000s, and liberal deviations were linked to 9/11 and George W. Bush's subsequent disastrous policies.

KATERYNA DYSA, PhD in History, Vice-Director of the Center for Polish and European Studies at NaUKMA

INTERVIEWED BY DARIA SYNHAIEVSKA, ANALYST AND JOURNALIST AT UKRAINEWORLD