Historie pro nový svět / František Graus mezi minulostí a planetární krizí
History for a New World / František Graus between Past and Planetary Crisis

Summary/Abstract: In this review essay, written concurrently for this journal and for the Munich-based journal Bohemia (where it has already been published in German in Vol. 64, No. 1, 2024, pp. 88–93), the reviewer presents two survey works bearing the same title [The History of Slovakia] by two renowned authors: Dejiny Slovenska by the Slovak historian Dušan Kováč (original Slovak edition) and Dějiny Slovenska by the Czech historian Jan Rychlík (he is the leader of the author’s collective, which also includes Milan Pokorný, Anna Zelenková, and Ján Gbúr). She relates both books to current questions in Slovak history and to the ways in which these are being developed within Slovak historiography, noting that in the 1990s the field was strongly influenced by nationalist interpretations, which often led to simplification, ideologization, and public controversy. In recent years, however, more diverse and critical approaches have come to the fore, seeking to view the past from multiple perspectives and to discuss problematic topics openly. According to the reviewer, this shift is clearly evident in both works under review. Both Kováč and Rychlík move beyond national narratives and present a multi-ethnic history of the territory of Slovakia within the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy and, later, the Czechoslovak state, from the earliest periods to the present-day Slovak Republic. At the same time, they address the period of the wartime Slovak State and the communist regime with critical emphasis. Both books offer a precise, reflective, engaged, and – in the best sense of the term – usable history.

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