Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017) was Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds and the author of many influential works, including Modernity and the Holocaust, Liquid Modernity, Strangers at Our Door and Retrotopia. Izabela Wagner is Professor of Sociology at the Collegium Civitas in Warsaw and the author of Bauman: A Biography.
‘Brilliant, witty, sometimes moving autobiographical texts by Zygmunt Bauman, comprehensively annotated by Bauman’s accomplished biographer. Fascinating reading for all interested in Bauman’s scholarly writings.’ Jan Tomasz Gross, Princeton University ‘When I read certain authors on war, I find myself engaged in a kind of vastness of complexities. Some wars are simply wars. But other, often less-known wars are devastating in their capacity to alter an epoch, even if this is not immediately evident. In his own way, I find that Zygmunt Bauman invites us to enter what appears as something familiar but opens up gradually to worlds that can transform our understanding of the familiar.’ Saskia Sassen, Columbia University ‘a sharp, rewarding insight into one of recent history’s most renowned thinkers… The value of [Bauman’s] books will not last an eternity – but they will continue to be read long enough. My Life in Fragments is among the best of them.’ Danny Dorling, LSE Review of Books ‘This chronicle of a soul in relation to society affords a fascinating glimpse into how deeply [Bauman’s] personal experiences inflected both his ideas and the controversies they still excite… this hopeful book is both a beautifully narrated memoir and a reflection on memoir.’ Books and Ideas