Idols of the forum (Idolii forului) book introduces Romanian publishing to 2d code universe

Our second 2d book, Idolii forului – Idols of the Forum, came out a week ago in my native country, Romania. I co-edited this Romanian language book with Mona Momescu, a Visiting Professor at Columbia University. Mona and I have each contributed a chapter to the book as well.

Thirteen contributors critically discuss the cultural models adopted by Eastern European public intellectuals after 1989. They scrutinize the claim of intellectual ”elites” to represent a special ”vocation,” which should be treated with deference by the rest of society. The book also discusses the ”paramodern” thinking that informs this type of intellectual discourse, which combines modern with traditional and at times anti-modern ideological themes. Special attention is dedicated to modernizing social discourse and to the need to include in social debates more voices, from all social strata and intellectual groups.

Each chapter of the book has a 2d code which linkes to a Q&A page at http://idolii.com. As readers ask questions, authors answer them in near real time.

The book will be available for purchase online in a few weeks at https://www.createspace.com/3368618

Idols of the forum contributors

• Michael Shafir – Eastern European Studies and International Relations, Professor and Chair, IR Department Cluj University
• Mona Momescu – Eastern European Studies and Literatures, Lecturer, Columbia University, Associate Professor, Ovidius University – editor
• Sorin Adam Matei – Communication, Associate Professor, Purdue U – editor
• Gabriel Andreescu – Political Science with an emphasis on human rights, National School for Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania, Professor
• Daniel Barbu – Political Science, Professor, Bucharest University
• Stelu ?erban – Political Science/Sociology, Assistant Professor, Bucharest University
• Adrian Gavrilescu – Political Science, Romanian Supreme Court, Public Manager, Author
• Marius Ghilezan – Journalism, Media, PR – Editor and Manger, Bookiseala.ro, PR consultant
• Lucian Nastas? Kovacs – Intellectual Sociology and History, Researcher, Romanian Academy of Sciences
• Caius Dobrescu – Writer and Literary Theorist, Professor, Bucharest Unviersity
• Vasile Morar – Philosopher, Ethics, Professor, Bucharest University
• Mircea Flonta – Philosopher, Epistemology, Professor, Bucharest University
• Alexandru Matei – Literary Theory, Assistant Professor, Spiru Haret University
• Bruno ?tefan – Associate Professor, Polytechnic University, Bucharest, Sociology, Founder of Bureau for Social Research
• Istvan Aranyosi – Philosopher, Assistant Professor, Bilkent University, Turkey