The University of Hope

Monika Kostera’s book is a great source of knowledge for organization scholars and management students interested in how different forms of organizing can shape people’s moral compasses and behaviours. This publication is also a valuable compendium for higher education policy makers and university managers — a warning signal on how the academic community could be easily destroyed by harmful organizational changes, and how to regain what has been already lost by recovering ‘all the virtues connecting us with something greater than ourselves’.It is worth to mention, however, that there is no nostalgia for some better time in academia in this book-the author brilliantly diagnoses the pathologies of feudalism in the academy, and the harassing actions performed by feudal ladies and feudal lords, now reinforced by neoliberal reform. * Michał Zawadzki, Sage Journal *The feeling of picking up an academic book and not being able to put it down is rare, sadly. But Monika Kostera’s book is compelling. The book reads like a crescendo of the current pressing discussions around the future-and present-of academia, accentuating the powerful voices already critiquing the current state. The book is dense, yet easy to read, thought-provoking but never didactic. It is deeply critical but never angry. It explores harsh and difficult realities, but with care and humility. It shares pain, and the wounds are visible- but these are transformed into courage, strength and hope. The book speaks to so many different levels at once; it is written on so many levels at once. * Alexia Panayiotou, Organization Studies *Readers with a predisposition towards intellectual curiosity and an enjoyment of jousting with ideas will find this book a treat. * Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association *Readers with a predisposition towards intellectual curiosity and an enjoyment of jousting with ideas will find this book a treat. * Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association *

Monika Kostera is a Professor in Sociology and Management at Warsaw University, as well as Professor in Management at Södertörn University, Sweden, and is affiliated with LITEM, l’Université Évry Val-d’Essonne, France. She has also been employed as professor and chair at UK universities. She writes and publishes texts on organization and management, as well as poetry. She is Associate Editor at Gender, Work and Organization and Culture & Organization, and has been co-editing several journals including British Journal of Management. Her current research interests include organizational imagination, disalienated work, and organizational ethnography.