Nearly two years ago a scholar of constitutional law reached out to me all the way from Sydney, Australia. He had known my father, another constitutionalist. That connection had led him to my blog and there he found my English translations of Polish poetry. Would I allow him to use one of these translations in his upcoming book?

Much warm correspondence ensued and professor Wojciech Sadurski’s A Pandemic of Populists is now out, its cover vivid and ominous in that de Chirico manner. My translation of a likewise vivid and ominous poem by Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) comes after the edition notice and before the table of contents. And then what follows is not the kind of writing you’d expect when confronting ideas like constitutionalism, illiberal democracies, and Cambridge University Press. Because this is an eminently readable book—one that makes matters of government approachable and solutions at least theoretically feasible. In fact, despite the bleak trends in global politics, Sadurski’s style is not only democratic but also pretty uplifting. (I, for one, find myself completely uplifted every time I grab this book and read another bit.)

What an honor! And yes, my dad would be delighted to find that his daughter, his colleague, and superstar poet Zbigniew Herbert have made a connection.

And here’s a postscript. Professor Sadurski triple-checked to make sure that diacritic in my last name made it to print. Alas, I’ve had my name legally changed to the diacritic-free version, but it’s really okay.