At the present, archaeology is experiencing important methodological and theoretical innovations, making this an ideal time to look back and reflect on the impact that some key old (and not so old) works have had on the recent development of the discipline. It is to that aim that we set out to prepare a special reviews section—to be published throughout the issues of volume 25—composed of a series of reviews revisiting books that we (alongside EAA members, polled informally on social media) consider to be among the most influential in European Archaeology during the last century. More than writing a classical book review, we invited reviewers to engage with the content of the books through the analysis of their scholarly impact, if relevant also in connection with the author's broader work or with the broader archaeological thinking of the last few decades. In this issue we publish four reviews. Montón-Subías assesses the landmark study Arqueología de la Identidad, by Hernando, whose thinking was deeply influenced by Indigenous knowledge, and which inexplicably has not yet been translated into English. Conkey reflects on the important legacy of Leroi-Gourhan's Le geste et la parole, which goes well beyond the chaîne opératoire. In his evaluation of Childe's The Danube in Prehistory, Whittle highlights the depth of Childe's scholarship, a type of engagement that he would like to see in recent works. Finally, Reinhold evaluates the impact of Marija Gimbuta's Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe and reflects on the possible reasons why it has received so little attention within European scholarship despite revealing the significance of extensive entanglements in Western Eurasia. Overall, these are insightful reviews that remind us of the importance and value of scholarly introspection and that we hope you will enjoy.