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We are pleased to highlight the latest reviews for our publications. These reviews reflect the hard work and dedication of our authors and we are pleased to see their titles receiving the professional recognition they deserve.
We invite you to read the reviews and join us in acknowledging our authors’ achievements. Our thanks go out to the reviewers for providing such constructive commentary. All titles are available to purchase from www.peterlang.com.
Review Highlights
Title: The Idea of Divine Providence in Ancient Thought by Tomasz Stępień
Review by: Marek Dobrzeniecki (The Catholic Academy in Warsaw)
“His work nevertheless remains one of the finest studies of providence in ancient thought to have appeared in recent decades. It should interest not only those concerned with this particular subject, but scholars of ancient philosophy in general, because its original presentation of the history of ancient thought through the theme of providence brings to light new aspects of that history and allows it to be understood more fully, especially in relation to the thought of the Church Fathers and, more broadly, to the whole of Christian theology.”
Featured in: Verbum Vitae 44/2 (2026)
Link: Tomasz Stępień, The Idea of Divine Providence in Ancient Thought . Translated by Elżbieta Puławska (European Studies in Theology, Philosophy and History of Religions 38. Berlin: Lang, 2026)
Title: Writing Now by Karl Ricker
Review by: Kieran Dolin (University of Western Australia)
“The subtlety and rigour of its argument throughout makes Writing Now an outstanding work of literary and cultural criticism.”
Featured in: Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 6 (September 2026)
Title: Intermédiations politiques by Lorenzo Barrault-Stella, Sébastien Michon
Review by: Pierre-Yves Baudot (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
“S’inscrivant dans le prolongement de plusieurs travaux récents sur les relais ou les passeurs de l’action publique, rejoignant des travaux classiques sur le « gouvernement du compromis », ou encore plus anciens sur les « médiateurs » et les « marginaux sécants », cet ouvrage, l’instar de ces autres travaux, porte la focale sur ces acteurs et actrices aux positions faiblement institutionnalisées, mais dont le rôle est absolument crucial dans l’entretien global des interdépendances entre les champs sociaux. Dépassant ces travaux, cet ouvrage ambitionne de montrer comment ces intermédiaires contribuent à la structuration des espaces sociaux par le politique.”
Featured in: Gouvernement et action publique 2026/2 Vol.15
Link: Lorenzo Barrault-Stella, Sébastien Michon (dir.) (2024), Intermédiations politiques. Les reconfigurations des modes d’exercice de la domination politique, Bruxelles, Peter Lang | Cairn.info
Title: España en la ópera europea by Paulino José Capdepón Verdú, Juan José Pastor Comín
Review by: Albert Ferrer Flamarich
“Es precisamente esta aproximación a títulos poco frecuentados, todavía carentes en muchos casos de bibliografía en lengua española, la que también convierte el libro en una herramienta tan valiosa: proporciona las bases de un conocimiento esencial e invita a escuchar y descubrir repertorios que apenas aparecen en los libros de historia y menos aún en los teatros.”
Featured in: Ritmo (2026), No. 1009
Link: Ritmo · nº 1009 · Octubre · 2026 – Revistas culturales
Title: Japan’s Awakening: Moving toward an Autonomous Security Policy by Lionel P. Fatton, Oreste Foppiani
Review by: Reinhard Biedermann (University of Tamkang)
“Insgesamt ist das Buch eine sehr fundierte Quelle in die sicherheits- und militärpolitischen Lageerwägungen und Entscheidungen Japans über sieben Jahrzehnte und aktuelle Trends, die die Sicherheitspolitik Japans und in der Region noch lange bestimmen werden.”
Featured in: ASIEN 174/175 (2025)
Link: Lionel P. Fatton und Oreste Foppiani: Japan’s Awakening: Moving toward an Autonomous Security Policy. | ASIEN: The German Journal on Contemporary Asia
Title: La fabrique administrative des lois et règlements by Emmanuel Martinais
Review by: Jean-Marc Weller (CNRS, LISIS)
“En définitive, l’ouvrage d’Emmanuel Martinais constitue une contribution importante à la sociologie politique de l’action publique et l’étude des politiques de sécurité industrielle. Par la richesse de son matériau, la précision de ses analyses et l’originalité de son angle, il claire de manière fine la fabrique des normes et les recompositions des relations entre État, industrie et territoires.”
Featured in: Gouvernement et action publique (2026)/2 Vol.15
Title: Transtasman Literary Imaginaries by Brigid Magner
Review by: Dougal McNeill (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington)
“Her work is ‘eccentric’ in the other sense too, and all the better for it. Hers are odd choices for study, and their oddness is their interest. The Transtasman, in Magner’s telling, is also what gets lost when a national focus organises literary studies. Her texts are works of the not-quite and not-yet: a disreputable and scandalchased novel by a major novelist (Witi Ihimaera’s The Trowenna Sea contains, for Magner, ‘powerful reflections on the Transtasman condition’, p. 21); the ‘eclectic combintion of realism, romance and theatrical modes’ (p. 41) that is Ruth Park’s One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker; novellas from a writer better known as a poet (Elizabeth Smither); unusual juxtapositions (Robin Hyde and Sue Orr); an author rarely discussed in critical contexts (Roger McDonald); and short texts from authors better known for their novels. The selection feels personal (Magner offers small glimpses of autobiographical detail throughout the text, to illuminating and rewarding ends) rather than wayward or haphazard.”
Featured in: Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 6 (September 2026)
