“One comes away with a strong sense of one of the most salient characteristics of Hegel’s philosophy—its insistence on interdependence, on how we’re embodied perspectives with power to both absorb and influence others’ outlooks. By examining the different ways this idea appears in Hegel’s thought, Hoff presents an alternative to the modern stress on primal individuality, on a conception of freedom that insists on ‘I am’ without realizing that this is embedded in a network of other free beings. . . . A vision with the potential to enrich and expand [our] outlook.”

“[Hoff] is lucid, generous and politically ambitious, and makes Hegel remarkably understandable. . . . Despite Hegel’s problematic remarks on, for example, colonialism and race, Hoff claims that he need not be siphoned off from emancipatory theory and praxis, but rather that he can be most philosophically generative when he is put into conversation with traditions and experiences he himself did not fully comprehend. Hoff’s Hegel is not the boogeyman who subordinates contingency and difference to necessity and identity, but rather a thoroughly relevant philosophical figure who can help orient those of us with emancipatory ambitions today."

“How to Read Hegel Now compellingly reclaims Hegel’s philosophy in the name of contemporary social justice. In prose both beautiful and accessible, Hoff deftly enlists Hegel as a powerful ally for today’s progressives in the fight for a better tomorrow. Her book overflows with clearly expressed insights that will speak to everyone from educated lay readers to the most seasoned scholars of German idealism. How to Read Hegel Now rekindles the Hegelian flame to illuminate our present dark times, showing us both what problems truly matter and possible paths beyond them.”

“Hoff has written a book that is not only timely and informative but necessary, as few books are. She explores the Hegelian roots of modern thinkers of liberation, cuts away metaphysical interpretations that have encrusted understandings of Hegel’s thought for centuries, and shows how Hegel helps us understand what it means to live in a world made by others. Clear and reliable, this book is a vital resource for anyone seeking to navigate our times.”