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Made in Sweden : 25 ideas that created a country / Elisabeth Åsbrink.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Minneapolis, Minnesota : Scribe, 2019Edition: US editionDescription: ix, 150 pages ; 20 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781947534841
  • 194753484X
Subject(s):
Contents:
Suinom hinc civitas -- Beowulf -- The sacred nature -- Homo sapiens -- Swedish values in the making -- Here's the first -- A Swedish suffragette -- Know thyself -- Human beings are to be pitied -- The Swede that inspired Hitler -- The preservation of the Swedish race -- The peoples' home -- Take off your shoes -- Personal identification numbers -- Ikea -- Swedish neutrality -- As the hand grips a sun-warm stone -- I am death -- Scandi noir -- Creatures of dictatorship -- Never violence -- The bridge -- Open your hearts -- Zlatan, the Swede.
Summary: In recent times, we have come to favor all things Scandi - their food, furnishings, fiction, fashion, and general way of life. We seem to regard the Swedes and their Scandinavian neighbors as altogether more sophisticated, admirable, and evolved than us. We have all aspired to be Swedish, to live in their perfectly designed society from the future. But what if we have invested all our faith in a fantasy? What if Sweden has in fact never been as moderate, egalitarian, dignified, or tolerant as it would like to (have us) think? The recent rise to political prominence of an openly neo-Nazi party has begun to crack the illusion, and here now is Swede Elisabeth Åsbrink, who loves her country 'but not blindly', presenting twenty-five of her nation's key words and icons afresh, in order to give the world a clearer-eyed understanding of this fascinating country.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 306.0948 A799 Available 33111009535465
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 306.0948 A799 Available 33111008248300
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What are the real Swedish Values? Who is the real Swedish Model? Is Sweden all that?

In recent times, we have come to favor all things Scandinavian--their food, furnishings, fiction, fashion, and general way of life. We seem to regard the Swedes and their neighbors as altogether more sophisticated, admirable, and evolved than us. But what if Sweden has in fact never been as moderate, egalitarian, dignified, or tolerant as it would like to (have us) think?

The recent rise to political prominence of an openly neo-Nazi party has begun to crack the illusion, and here now is Swede Elisabeth Åsbrink, who loves her country "but not blindly," presenting twenty-five of her nation's key words and icons afresh. "There is," she writes, "a dark side to Utopia." As she did in her acclaimed 1947, she creates a collage that helps us not only see a more complex and problematic society, but also illustrates how national identity is constructed as much by what (or who) is excluded as what (or who) is included.

First published in Swedish as Orden som formade Sverige by Natur & Kultur in 2018.

Includes bibliographical references.

Suinom hinc civitas -- Beowulf -- The sacred nature -- Homo sapiens -- Swedish values in the making -- Here's the first -- A Swedish suffragette -- Know thyself -- Human beings are to be pitied -- The Swede that inspired Hitler -- The preservation of the Swedish race -- The peoples' home -- Take off your shoes -- Personal identification numbers -- Ikea -- Swedish neutrality -- As the hand grips a sun-warm stone -- I am death -- Scandi noir -- Creatures of dictatorship -- Never violence -- The bridge -- Open your hearts -- Zlatan, the Swede.

In recent times, we have come to favor all things Scandi - their food, furnishings, fiction, fashion, and general way of life. We seem to regard the Swedes and their Scandinavian neighbors as altogether more sophisticated, admirable, and evolved than us. We have all aspired to be Swedish, to live in their perfectly designed society from the future. But what if we have invested all our faith in a fantasy? What if Sweden has in fact never been as moderate, egalitarian, dignified, or tolerant as it would like to (have us) think? The recent rise to political prominence of an openly neo-Nazi party has begun to crack the illusion, and here now is Swede Elisabeth Åsbrink, who loves her country 'but not blindly', presenting twenty-five of her nation's key words and icons afresh, in order to give the world a clearer-eyed understanding of this fascinating country.

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