Reading Berlin 1900

by Peter Fritzsche

The great cities at the turn of the century were mediated by words--newspapers, advertisements, signs, and schedules--by which the inhabitants lived, dreamed, and imagined their surroundings. In this original study of the classic text of urban modernism--the newspaper page--Peter Fritzsche analyzes how reading and writing dramatized Imperial Berlin and anticipated the modernist sensibility that celebrated discontinuity, instability, and transience. It is a sharp-edged story with cameo appearances by Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin, and Alfred Döblin. This sumptuous history of a metropolis and its social and literary texts provides a rich evocation of a particularly exuberant and fleeting moment in history.

Genres: History, Germany, European History

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 1996

Reviews

[Harry C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahh the texture!!! Just so so good

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though it was not the best book I've ever read, I really enjoyed Fritzche's use of newspapers to examine Berlin. It's an interesting way to tell a story. I do not believe this is the best way to examine society but it does make me wonder how people would view today's society if they were only able to get information via newspapers?

[Brad Hart · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Reading Berlin: 1900" deals with the impact that newspapers, journals, and other forms of media had on shaping German nationalism prior to the outbreak of World War I. This was an interesting topic to read about, but the author simply repeated himself over and over again. For that reason, he receives only 2 stars.

[Baris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been alot more interesting if the writer had looked at the "experience" of reading --instead of the content-- in the word city. It is not that interesting, nor informative.