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Lost Berlin
Photographs and accompanying text portray the artistic, cultural, social, and political life in Berlin during the 1920s
208 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 9, 2017
Well and truly LOST!!!!
Between 1943 and 1945 allied bombers destroyed a third of the city's 1.5 milion buildings, laying waste to 10 sq. miles of central Berlin...
In 1945 after the bombing had stopped, the Russians turned 22,000 guns on what was left and raised it to the ground.
Happily Susanne Keegan nee Everett (she is married to the great military historian John Keegan) has given us a huge slice of wonderful nostalgia in its best form - photographs!!!
And a text which is sparse but never wasted.
These deal with the city itself as well as its film, art,
music, cabaret, Bauhaus architecture and design,
politics and history of the empire, republic and dictatorship.
And it is ALL rivetting.
"Only in Berlin was there so much hunger for the new,
so fierce a rejection of the old,
and so much intellectual and artistic freedom
to translate these new ideas into reality.
By contrast "the Third Reich was to commit not only physical but artistic murder.
Propaganda took the place of experimentation,
bigotry replaced freedom of expression,
and sentimentality triumphed over satire.
What this book doesn't tell us,
since it is not in its range,
is that every brutality that Hitler imposed on Europe,
he first tried on the German people.
What this book does show us
is the great spirit and intellect
of Hitler's First Victims.
Susanne Everett has given voice
to their Creative and Moral Song
in this Fab Book.
This is a Great Song to Them
Between 1943 and 1945 allied bombers destroyed a third of the city's 1.5 milion buildings, laying waste to 10 sq. miles of central Berlin...
In 1945 after the bombing had stopped, the Russians turned 22,000 guns on what was left and raised it to the ground.
Happily Susanne Keegan nee Everett (she is married to the great military historian John Keegan) has given us a huge slice of wonderful nostalgia in its best form - photographs!!!
And a text which is sparse but never wasted.
These deal with the city itself as well as its film, art,
music, cabaret, Bauhaus architecture and design,
politics and history of the empire, republic and dictatorship.
And it is ALL rivetting.
"Only in Berlin was there so much hunger for the new,
so fierce a rejection of the old,
and so much intellectual and artistic freedom
to translate these new ideas into reality.
By contrast "the Third Reich was to commit not only physical but artistic murder.
Propaganda took the place of experimentation,
bigotry replaced freedom of expression,
and sentimentality triumphed over satire.
What this book doesn't tell us,
since it is not in its range,
is that every brutality that Hitler imposed on Europe,
he first tried on the German people.
What this book does show us
is the great spirit and intellect
of Hitler's First Victims.
Susanne Everett has given voice
to their Creative and Moral Song
in this Fab Book.
This is a Great Song to Them
August 4, 2017
Trying to create the perfect balance between images and text in a coffee-table book is an art in itself. Too much text distracts from the pictures, and not enough text leaves the images bereft of context (which might not be a bad thing). This is about as balanced, well-rounded a book as I've encountered. If you're the kind of history buff or art connoisseur who's usually frustrated by how often the same images crop up in book after book or one documentary after another, a source with this much rare memorabilia is a true treat.
Ms. Everett's writing is concise, informative, and even-handed. She obviously knows the subject of interwar Germany very well, but also knows how to make her point without belaboring it. This gives the book a very brisk pacing while also providing the reader with enough info to feel edified and entertained in equal measure. Perhaps most importantly, Everett doesn't treat Weimar Germany as either some sort of total hedonistic Sodom (a la Mel Gordon's pigsty of a book, "Voluptuous Panic") or wallow too much in the fatalistic rhetoric that gets bandied about when Weimar Germany is the subject (sometimes treated as ill-fated/doomed from the start). This is a wonderful celebration of a cultural experiment whose efflorescence was short-lived, but whose products are so beautiful and fascinating that the decade in question seems to contain centuries of history. Highest recommendation.
Ms. Everett's writing is concise, informative, and even-handed. She obviously knows the subject of interwar Germany very well, but also knows how to make her point without belaboring it. This gives the book a very brisk pacing while also providing the reader with enough info to feel edified and entertained in equal measure. Perhaps most importantly, Everett doesn't treat Weimar Germany as either some sort of total hedonistic Sodom (a la Mel Gordon's pigsty of a book, "Voluptuous Panic") or wallow too much in the fatalistic rhetoric that gets bandied about when Weimar Germany is the subject (sometimes treated as ill-fated/doomed from the start). This is a wonderful celebration of a cultural experiment whose efflorescence was short-lived, but whose products are so beautiful and fascinating that the decade in question seems to contain centuries of history. Highest recommendation.
December 23, 2022
A great coffee table book
My copy is by Susan Everett. You may need to look it up by her married name Susan Keegan.
This book is a picture book. Most of the pictures are of a Berlin that disappeared under allied bombing. Other pictures are of the picture takers, artists, and movies of that Zeit. The time period covered the 1920s and 1930s. There are several pictures of the Freicorps, and images from films such as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
The table of contents reads:
1. BERLINERLUFT 6
2. BAUHAUSSTADT 34
3. CABARET AND FILMSTADT 66
4. MUSIKSTADT 108
5. STADT MAHAGONNY 140
INDEX 204
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 208
Next, you will want to view the film “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City” (1927) Original title: Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt
My copy is by Susan Everett. You may need to look it up by her married name Susan Keegan.
This book is a picture book. Most of the pictures are of a Berlin that disappeared under allied bombing. Other pictures are of the picture takers, artists, and movies of that Zeit. The time period covered the 1920s and 1930s. There are several pictures of the Freicorps, and images from films such as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
The table of contents reads:
1. BERLINERLUFT 6
2. BAUHAUSSTADT 34
3. CABARET AND FILMSTADT 66
4. MUSIKSTADT 108
5. STADT MAHAGONNY 140
INDEX 204
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 208
Next, you will want to view the film “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City” (1927) Original title: Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews