David Van Reybrouck

David Van Reybrouck has been described as ‘one of the leading intellectuals in Europe’ (Der Tagesspiegel). His highly-acclaimed books on colonial history, Congo and Revolusi, have become international bestsellers. His essay Against Elections: The Case for Democracy was translated into over twenty languages and drew praise from former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. A pioneering advocate of deliberative democracy, David is also one the most versatile literary authors of his generation. His plays Mission and Para have toured internationally, and his poetry has culminated into Rain Requiem, a tribute toclimate victims.

On Congo:

Once opened, an abyss emerges in this book, from which rises a peak of historiography and documentary literature. For Belgium the book of the century, for Europa the book of the decade.
– Peter Sloterdijk, Süddeutsche Zeitung

This is a magnificent account, intimately researched, and relevant for anyone interested in how the recent past may inform our near future… What distinguishes the book is its clearheadedness.”
— New York Times Book Review

Sublime, monumental, virtuoso. This literary non-fiction is more thrilling than a novel.
— NRC Handelsblad

On Against Elections:

Choosing our rulers by popular vote has failed to deliver true democratic government: that seems to be the verdict of history unfolding before our eyes … [this] may well be an idea whose time has come.
– J.M. Coetzee

This fine iconoclastic work could not be more timely … demonstrate[s] that far from safeguarding our right to self-determination, elections are actually impeding our democracy.
– Karen Armstrong

Van Reybrouck mounts a convincing case that we have wrongly conflated democracy with elections, and are in fact simply maintaining an outmoded system in a technological era that calls out for, and can provide, much more informed participation.
– The Guardian

On Revolusi:

‘Monumental. A book whose force, as you turns its pages, only increases.’
– De Standaard

‘A breathtaking panorama of Indonesian history. A masterful work that reads like a thriller.’
-Le Soir

‘A monumental work on the birth of decolonisation.’
-Die Zeit

‘A brilliant book. If there is one author who can give history a touchable face, it is David Van Reybrouck.’
-Neue Zürcher Zeitung