Future generations will remember 2019 as a turbulent year, marked by a shifting—if not bewildering—global order. As a publisher based in London but wholly international in outlook, I hope you will find in our latest catalogue, books to enlighten and entertain you, if not entirely to reassure you.
Our latest catalogue, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the firm’s founding by Christopher Hurst, reflects his vision as an editor and publisher, and above all his commitment to hitherto neglected voices. Christopher would have been delighted by Olivette Otele’s pioneering history of Africans in Europe, not to mention Karoline Kan’s vivid account of coming of age in millennial China and Olivier Roy’s trenchantly argued Is Europe Still Christian?. Christopher would have been quietly satisfied that Hurst is publishing The Country That Does Not Exist: A History of Somaliland by Gérard Prunier—the redoubtable Africanist whose landmark book, The Rwanda Crisis: The History of a Genocide, Christopher and I published in 1998.
Since Christopher Hurst died in 2007, we have sought to preserve his commitment to both commercial independence and a list of books characterised by intellectual rigour, sound writing and, where possible, affordability. In the recent past the firm has broadened its range to include works aimed at a wider readership, achieving a modest degree of success, thanks above all to the calibre of our trade authors and the imaginative and indefatigable efforts of our publicity and marketing team.
I should also like to thank the booksellers worldwide who have long supported spirited independent publishers such as Hurst, resisting the easy option offered by our corporate competitors.
The biggest thanks of all are due to my colleagues; to those who help each of the authors on the journey from manuscript to finished book. Hurst is a lively workplace where freethinkers with a range of outlooks and backgrounds are welcome.
Please spread the word about us, about what Hurst publishes and the commitment of our team to publishing a list of books that contains the unexpected and the unsung, drawing upon an increasingly diverse pool of authors. We welcome your RTs, referrals and feedback.
Michael Dwyer (Publisher)
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Hurst’s latest catalogue for Autumn/Winter 2019 can be found here.