Global Publics is successful in stimulating conceptual discussion. Overall, the contributions make a strong case for using the notion of "global publics." Scholars working in the Habermasian tradition might be interested above all in Huber's and Osterhammel's introduction. Global historians may also want to turn to the essays: they present global publics as fractured and fragile, shaped by power structures and market forces, and only loosely coupled with
visions of a global community or world citizenship. In particular, a focus on global publics seems to provide fresh perspectives for studying transnational forms of political mobilisation.
Valeska Huber is Head of the Emmy Noether Research Group Reaching the People: Communication and Global Orders in the Twentieth Century. She teaches Global History at the Free University Berlin.
Jürgen Osterhammel is Emeritus Professor of History at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies.