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Raise Your Soul: A Personal History of Resistance
A captivating portrait of Yanis Varoufakis’s political awakening, told through the history of his family, from 1924 to the present.
'A gripping history of modern Greece and an unforgettable biography of an extraordinary family. Written with compassion and wit, it reads like a thriller’ BRIAN ENO
'Fierce ... to sit with Varoufakis’s words is a gift' ESTHER ANATOLITIS
When Yanis Varoufakis was eight years old, his uncle made him a model airplane out of matchsticks and cigarette papers; all he could find in his cell. Yet, to his dismay, his mother Eleni broke open the fragile gift, revealing a hidden instructions for fellow dissidents ahead of their forthcoming court martial. It was 1969 and Uncle Panayis was a political prisoner, captured and tortured for resisting the military dictatorship.
Dramatic in scope and deep in feeling, Raise Your Soul is an intimate portrait of three generations caught up in the whirlwind of history. It is also a remarkable narrative spanning one hundred years, beginning in post-colonial Egypt in the 1920s, and then tracing Greece’s tumultuous century through Nazi occupation, communist resistance, civil war, Cold War fracture, fascist dictatorship, socialist revival and present-day economic crisis.
At its heart are the women whose resilience, defiance and courage inspired the visionary economist Eleni, Anna, Trisevgeni, Georgia and Danaë. Through their lives, Varoufakis not only lays bare his own political soul, but confronts the dark forces of authoritarianism that still haunt Europe and beyond, reigniting hope in all of us that we can rise once more.
‘This is not just Varoufakis’s story, but ours’ IRVINE WELSH
'Beautiful and inspiring, I couldn't put it down' ROSIE HOLT
'A gripping history of modern Greece and an unforgettable biography of an extraordinary family. Written with compassion and wit, it reads like a thriller’ BRIAN ENO
'Fierce ... to sit with Varoufakis’s words is a gift' ESTHER ANATOLITIS
When Yanis Varoufakis was eight years old, his uncle made him a model airplane out of matchsticks and cigarette papers; all he could find in his cell. Yet, to his dismay, his mother Eleni broke open the fragile gift, revealing a hidden instructions for fellow dissidents ahead of their forthcoming court martial. It was 1969 and Uncle Panayis was a political prisoner, captured and tortured for resisting the military dictatorship.
Dramatic in scope and deep in feeling, Raise Your Soul is an intimate portrait of three generations caught up in the whirlwind of history. It is also a remarkable narrative spanning one hundred years, beginning in post-colonial Egypt in the 1920s, and then tracing Greece’s tumultuous century through Nazi occupation, communist resistance, civil war, Cold War fracture, fascist dictatorship, socialist revival and present-day economic crisis.
At its heart are the women whose resilience, defiance and courage inspired the visionary economist Eleni, Anna, Trisevgeni, Georgia and Danaë. Through their lives, Varoufakis not only lays bare his own political soul, but confronts the dark forces of authoritarianism that still haunt Europe and beyond, reigniting hope in all of us that we can rise once more.
‘This is not just Varoufakis’s story, but ours’ IRVINE WELSH
'Beautiful and inspiring, I couldn't put it down' ROSIE HOLT
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2025
23 people are currently reading
612 people want to read
About the author
Yanis Varoufakis
60 books2,505 followersIoannis "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek-Australian economist and politician. A former academic, he has been Secretary-General of MeRA25, a left-wing political party, since he founded it in 2018. A former member of Syriza, he served as Minister of Finance from January to July 2015 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 16, 2025
Varoufakis is one of the great intellectuals of our time, and even if it may appear strange for a man to tell the stories of 5 women, he succeeds in narrating the Greek diaspora and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans from a personal perspective. Albeit, I don't rate it with 5 stars as somehow an essay with a novel format is intertwined and there is no clarity on when events occur, mixing intellectual thinking with fictionalised history. Reassembling Lea Ypi's books as fellow Balkans, there is no clarity in the sequence of events and genre of book he wants to achieve, whereas Ypi makes a more appealing and easier lecture to the broader public. Nevertheless, it is always necessary to read Varoufakis in these political dark times to inspire hope and learn from our past as Europeans.
December 24, 2025
I’m being generous giving this a 5, but hey - it’s Christmas, I read the bulk of this book in one sitting on a flight to Hong Kong, and I really enjoyed it.
Sure, the style can be a bit simplistic (and I’m not a huge fan of the personal memoir-type format anyway) - but the stories Yanis Varoufakis tells in ‘Raise Your Soul’ are remarkable. I should preface by saying that I’ve not read other books by Varoufakis (though, like many readers, I’m familiar with his work and I was attracted to this book by the name) - but I gather this one is quite different from his others. In simplistic terms, Varoufakis uses this book to tell the stories of five women in his life - both grandmothers; his mother; his ex-grandmother-in-law (if that’s even a thing?); and his partner. Yet ‘Raise Your Soul’ is so much more than that. From Egypt to Athens, the Greek Civil War to the Financial Crisis, Varoufakis’ family were at the frontline of some tortured periods in Greece’s history - and this book offers a fascinating speed run through that same history using the eyes of the people who lived it. I thought Varoufakis’ idea of trying to re-centre women who had been disenfranchised throughout their lives was a nice one - but this book gets home on the quality of those stories alone.
Part memoir, part history, this book is enjoyable, emotional, and has a readability that belies the force of its content.
Sure, the style can be a bit simplistic (and I’m not a huge fan of the personal memoir-type format anyway) - but the stories Yanis Varoufakis tells in ‘Raise Your Soul’ are remarkable. I should preface by saying that I’ve not read other books by Varoufakis (though, like many readers, I’m familiar with his work and I was attracted to this book by the name) - but I gather this one is quite different from his others. In simplistic terms, Varoufakis uses this book to tell the stories of five women in his life - both grandmothers; his mother; his ex-grandmother-in-law (if that’s even a thing?); and his partner. Yet ‘Raise Your Soul’ is so much more than that. From Egypt to Athens, the Greek Civil War to the Financial Crisis, Varoufakis’ family were at the frontline of some tortured periods in Greece’s history - and this book offers a fascinating speed run through that same history using the eyes of the people who lived it. I thought Varoufakis’ idea of trying to re-centre women who had been disenfranchised throughout their lives was a nice one - but this book gets home on the quality of those stories alone.
Part memoir, part history, this book is enjoyable, emotional, and has a readability that belies the force of its content.
December 5, 2025
At a time where it’s proving difficult to raise my soul and where I’ve been feeling my ignorance on resistance and fascism in the 20th century, this was a perfect read. Varoufakis traces his family’s history w commentary on human psychology of cruelty and susceptibility to authoritarian leaders - while acknowledging straight out the reservations he has about writing about the truly incredible lives of five women in his family as a man. Felt like talking with a friend and was a great read during my Europe trip
December 13, 2025
TLDR:
• Raise your Soul traces Varoufakis's political defiance not through economic theory, but through the multigenerational struggles of five women in his family.
• The necessity of resistance, moral endurance, and political integrity against fascism, authoritarianism, and apathy in 20th-century Greece.
• Varoufakis masterfully combines the precision of a historian with the emotional depth of a storyteller, making complex geopolitical events intimately felt.
• The prose is captivating and cinematic; the author's voice narration for the audiobook adds an urgent, authentic weight to the historical account.
• The book serves as a moving testament to how family legacy and personal fortitude form the human and emotional bedrock of sustained political struggle.
I am a big fan of Varoufakis, he is vocal and consistently present on podcasts, interviews and online media that I follow. I have not been disappointed yet, reading any of his works, and this one is no different. This book stands apart from his previous works, offering not an economist’s dissection of crisis, but a deeply intimate, multigenerational portrait that serves as a moving testament to the personal cost and triumph of political conviction. The title itself, a direct quote from his mother, Eleni, encapsulates the book’s mission: to find the emotional fortitude needed to confront dark times. It is a captivating journey through a turbulent century, beginning in the 1920s, that ultimately reveals the human foundation of Varoufakis’s own defiant political soul.
Resistance, Endurance, and Family Legacy
The book’s main themes are centered on the necessity of resistance and endurance against the forces of tyranny and apathy. Varoufakis explores these ideas by brilliantly structuring the narrative around the lives of five women, his mother, Eleni; his grandmothers, Anna and Trisevgeni; a family friend, Georgia; and his partner, Danaë; whose individual struggles against patriarchy, dictatorship, and economic hardship become a counter-history of postwar Greece. The intellectual exploration here is not economic, but moral: how do ordinary people retain their humanity and political integrity when caught in the whirlwind of civil war, Nazi occupation, and Cold War fracture? This narrative structure ensures that the political and economic ideologies Varoufakis usually discusses are felt through human tragedy and resilience, making the book’s arguments for anti-authoritarianism intensely personal and universal.
Captivating Narrative and Distinctive Voice
What makes this book such a compelling read is the author’s writing style and narrative structure. By utilizing the lives of the women in his family as anchors, Varoufakis crafts a novelistic sweep that feels both cinematic and deeply informative. His prose manages to combine a historian’s meticulous grasp of events with a storyteller’s understanding of the human condition, resulting in a text that is immediately captivating. Even when the subject matter is weighty, his voice, particularly in the audiobook narration, is distinctive and powerful, carrying the weight of his personal commitment while maintaining a lucid, engaging rhythm. The natural gravity and intellectual clarity he brings to his public speaking translate perfectly into the reading experience, elevating the memoir with a sense of urgent, lived history.
Life of Greek Expats in Egypt
As an Egyptian reader, the early sections of Raise your Soul, detailing the life of the expat Greek community in post-colonial Egypt in the 1920s, provided a strong and surprising sense of connection to the story. Varoufakis’s paternal grandmother, Anna, is a particularly vibrant figure, described as a Cairo socialite who became a feminist radical. Her involvement in local underground movements and her connection to the wider Egyptian community, culminating in her 1951 funeral being attended by thousands of Egyptian women, is a powerful acknowledgment of the shared, cosmopolitan history of that era. This commentary on the cross-cultural life of expat Greeks, living and organizing within Egyptian society rather than apart from it, brought the historical backdrop of my own country into the narrative, making the subsequent family history of resistance feel like a part of a larger, collective struggle against colonialism and oppression.
In conclusion, Raise your Soul is not simply a biography of Varoufakis’s family; it is a profound political statement framed as a heartfelt homage to the women who shaped his worldview. By stepping back from the immediacy of his career as Finance Minister and grounding his political philosophy in his family’s sacrifices, he offers a book that is both an enduring personal memoir and a vital manual for resistance, reigniting hope that we can indeed rise above the forces that seek to divide and diminish us.
Synergistic Links and Further Reading
• Technofeudalism: This is a deeply interesting book that showcases Yanis at his most creative, arguing that capitalism has been replaced by a new, more extractive system dominated by cloud-based feudal lords (Amazon, Google, Meta). The book brilliantly coins new terms and frames to explain the transformation of money, markets, and power in the digital age.
• Talking to my Daughter about the Economy: In this highly accessible work, Yanis really simplifies the economic principles behind capitalism, specifically clarifying basic terms like exchange value and profit for a general audience. He also offers a brief yet insightful understanding of anticapitalism from a Marxist perspective, making complex concepts easy to grasp for non-economists.
• WHAT POLITICS TAUGHT ME (Video Link)This podcast series, hosted by Raoul Martinez, features Yanis discussing his perspectives on many issues, with many episodes featuring prominent leftist figures.
• Raise your Soul traces Varoufakis's political defiance not through economic theory, but through the multigenerational struggles of five women in his family.
• The necessity of resistance, moral endurance, and political integrity against fascism, authoritarianism, and apathy in 20th-century Greece.
• Varoufakis masterfully combines the precision of a historian with the emotional depth of a storyteller, making complex geopolitical events intimately felt.
• The prose is captivating and cinematic; the author's voice narration for the audiobook adds an urgent, authentic weight to the historical account.
• The book serves as a moving testament to how family legacy and personal fortitude form the human and emotional bedrock of sustained political struggle.
I am a big fan of Varoufakis, he is vocal and consistently present on podcasts, interviews and online media that I follow. I have not been disappointed yet, reading any of his works, and this one is no different. This book stands apart from his previous works, offering not an economist’s dissection of crisis, but a deeply intimate, multigenerational portrait that serves as a moving testament to the personal cost and triumph of political conviction. The title itself, a direct quote from his mother, Eleni, encapsulates the book’s mission: to find the emotional fortitude needed to confront dark times. It is a captivating journey through a turbulent century, beginning in the 1920s, that ultimately reveals the human foundation of Varoufakis’s own defiant political soul.
Resistance, Endurance, and Family Legacy
The book’s main themes are centered on the necessity of resistance and endurance against the forces of tyranny and apathy. Varoufakis explores these ideas by brilliantly structuring the narrative around the lives of five women, his mother, Eleni; his grandmothers, Anna and Trisevgeni; a family friend, Georgia; and his partner, Danaë; whose individual struggles against patriarchy, dictatorship, and economic hardship become a counter-history of postwar Greece. The intellectual exploration here is not economic, but moral: how do ordinary people retain their humanity and political integrity when caught in the whirlwind of civil war, Nazi occupation, and Cold War fracture? This narrative structure ensures that the political and economic ideologies Varoufakis usually discusses are felt through human tragedy and resilience, making the book’s arguments for anti-authoritarianism intensely personal and universal.
Captivating Narrative and Distinctive Voice
What makes this book such a compelling read is the author’s writing style and narrative structure. By utilizing the lives of the women in his family as anchors, Varoufakis crafts a novelistic sweep that feels both cinematic and deeply informative. His prose manages to combine a historian’s meticulous grasp of events with a storyteller’s understanding of the human condition, resulting in a text that is immediately captivating. Even when the subject matter is weighty, his voice, particularly in the audiobook narration, is distinctive and powerful, carrying the weight of his personal commitment while maintaining a lucid, engaging rhythm. The natural gravity and intellectual clarity he brings to his public speaking translate perfectly into the reading experience, elevating the memoir with a sense of urgent, lived history.
Life of Greek Expats in Egypt
As an Egyptian reader, the early sections of Raise your Soul, detailing the life of the expat Greek community in post-colonial Egypt in the 1920s, provided a strong and surprising sense of connection to the story. Varoufakis’s paternal grandmother, Anna, is a particularly vibrant figure, described as a Cairo socialite who became a feminist radical. Her involvement in local underground movements and her connection to the wider Egyptian community, culminating in her 1951 funeral being attended by thousands of Egyptian women, is a powerful acknowledgment of the shared, cosmopolitan history of that era. This commentary on the cross-cultural life of expat Greeks, living and organizing within Egyptian society rather than apart from it, brought the historical backdrop of my own country into the narrative, making the subsequent family history of resistance feel like a part of a larger, collective struggle against colonialism and oppression.
In conclusion, Raise your Soul is not simply a biography of Varoufakis’s family; it is a profound political statement framed as a heartfelt homage to the women who shaped his worldview. By stepping back from the immediacy of his career as Finance Minister and grounding his political philosophy in his family’s sacrifices, he offers a book that is both an enduring personal memoir and a vital manual for resistance, reigniting hope that we can indeed rise above the forces that seek to divide and diminish us.
Synergistic Links and Further Reading
• Technofeudalism: This is a deeply interesting book that showcases Yanis at his most creative, arguing that capitalism has been replaced by a new, more extractive system dominated by cloud-based feudal lords (Amazon, Google, Meta). The book brilliantly coins new terms and frames to explain the transformation of money, markets, and power in the digital age.
• Talking to my Daughter about the Economy: In this highly accessible work, Yanis really simplifies the economic principles behind capitalism, specifically clarifying basic terms like exchange value and profit for a general audience. He also offers a brief yet insightful understanding of anticapitalism from a Marxist perspective, making complex concepts easy to grasp for non-economists.
• WHAT POLITICS TAUGHT ME (Video Link)This podcast series, hosted by Raoul Martinez, features Yanis discussing his perspectives on many issues, with many episodes featuring prominent leftist figures.
September 29, 2025
Raise Your Soul is an engaging family history. It is clear Varoufakis' political beliefs have been shaped by the inspirational women in his family, and here he pays tribute to their courage, defiance and resilience. Their stories offer a unique insight into the turbulent politics of twentieth-century Greece.
At times I found the structure a little confusing: some dates would have been useful to help navigate all the leaps in time and characters' perspective, and the narrative meanders off course a little too often.
A fascinating, feminist insight into Greek history and into Varoufakis' own political awakening.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
At times I found the structure a little confusing: some dates would have been useful to help navigate all the leaps in time and characters' perspective, and the narrative meanders off course a little too often.
A fascinating, feminist insight into Greek history and into Varoufakis' own political awakening.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
October 29, 2025
A fascinating book set against the twentieth century history of Greek politics with episodes from Egypt, England, Australia and the USA.
It is shocking to learn of the subjugated role women in Greek society.
It is shocking to learn of the subjugated role women in Greek society.
November 22, 2025
An intense family saga from a good storyteller who respects women and acknowledges the roles they play in his life.
December 13, 2025
I got bored, sorry.
December 29, 2025
I’ve enjoyed Varoufakis' work in the past, but this one just didn’t hook me in the same way. It never quite grabbed my attention, despite covering ground that should have been right up my alley.
January 7, 2026
Memory is the most precious treasure.
January 8, 2026
Must read for our times. Great writing and great stories of resistance.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews