Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin

Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin
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Alexandra Richie Hates Berlin

Broad in scope but horrible bias

great overview of euro politics

Let the man go, purgatory for Faust

Too broadly focused

Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin
Alexandra Richie
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

An ambitious undertaking, Faust's Metropolis : A History of Berlin aims to chronicle the history of Germany through the microcosm of its most dramatic city. Alexandra Richie's thousand page tome spans from the time of Nero to Helmut Kohl. It is an encyclopedic description of the Schicksal Stadt Deutschlands--the City of German Destiny--filled with the politics of rulers and the ideology of artists.

Richie doesn't romanticize Berlin; early on, she invokes Goethe's view of the city as bourgeois, brash, and onerous. "Like the metropolis in Faust it has always been a rather shabby place," Richie comments. "It is neither an ancient gem like Rome, nor an exquisite beauty like Prague, nor a geographical marvel like Rio. It was formed not by the gentle, cultured hand which made Dresden or Venice but was wrenched from the unpromising landscape by sheer hard work and determination." By placing her historical account in a world-encompassing perspective, the culture described in Faust's Metropolis comments on the whole of Germany and its people.

The author is most eloquent in describing the recent history of the city. As a resident during its divided years, she describes Berlin as the ultimate "border city," on the frontline of the dueling Weltanschauungs of the Cold War. Her tone is familiar in describing the changing face of the city, and her enthusiasm evident as the book moves into the modern era. Filled with the insights of its unique and myriad residents, Faust's Metropolis recounts Berlin's culture, providing the reader with a thorough history and authoritative analysis.

Customer Reviews:

Alexandra Richie Hates Berlin.......2006-02-04

I was assigned Faust's Metropolis for a survey of Berlin's history. I was surprised that it was out of print only ten years after it had been published... until I actually managed to read the entire book.

Richie has a hate-on, to be blunt; she does not like Germans at all, and constructs an elaborate story of how inherently backward Berlin and Berliners while going out of her way to flatter minor Polish historical figures that few people outside of Poland have ever heard of. (Meanwhile, she provides little meaningful evidence that, outside of crazed leaders like the Soldier King, Prussia was any more regressive than other autocratic states of the time such as Poland and France.)

One wonders if Richie is some sort of objectivist, because she soon dives into a biased, counterintuitive and sometimes lo-fact carnival of attack against common Germans, the labor movement and Yalta while hagiographizing Reagan.

Nevertheless, while Richie's work clearly needs work it is perhaps the best-researched concise history of early Berlin I'm aware of, which unfortunately isn't saying a lot.

Broad in scope but horrible bias.......2005-07-25

This book has several things going for it that I particularly liked. First off I appreciate how complete it is. While one could say that that the last 150 years of Berlin history were the most important, this book gives an account of Berlin from the first settlements in the area all the way up to reunification and beyond. I particularly appreciated learning about Berlin/Cölln in the middle ages as well as what the city experienced in The 30 Years War. The book is also extremely readable and quite engrossing.

The book staggers, however, when Richie comes to World War II. There are factual errors, as other reviewers have pointed out. Richie also falls into the camp that sees the allies as having given Berlin, East Germany, and Eastern Europe away to Stalin. She claims that Roosevelt just gave the city away, accusing him of "criminally stupid behaviour" and almost suggests that Roosevelt and Stalin were somehow conspiring against Churchill. Her argument would seem more convincing if, in the following four hundred pages, she did not go out of her way to portray anyone left of Joe McCarthy in the same light.

The problem with Richie's text is that it's about absolutes. Having read the text, one gets the sense that Churchill, Adenauer, Kohl, Reagan (yes, Richie falls to Reagan's feet too, I'm surprised she didn't claim that he tore down the wall single handedly) etc. could do no wrong, whereas the East German government was only evil, all the time, thanks to the assitance of Kennedy, Willy Brandt, and Günter Grass. Not a very healthy approach to history.

great overview of euro politics.......2004-12-31

Ms Ritchie tells the story of Berlin in a truly engaging manner,don't let the length scare you,even if you are a casual lover of history.This is no dry academic treatise.And Ms.Ritchie does a tremendously good job at explaining the origins of Socialism,Communism,and Nazism--and their terrible excesses.If you want a quick,readable grasp of European politics,read this and parts of Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence.

Let the man go, purgatory for Faust.......2002-09-11

This is a swashbuckling whole shebang account of moden Germany in a Berlin track-mind, long, yet fast, and is a good backdrop to the military history of the World Wars. The good detail piles up and the book gets better towards the second half, and was especially interesting from the inter-war period onward, with short but to the point snapshot accounts of the rise of Hitler after the cultural overdrive of the Twenties. It is good to zoom in for close detail, and then zoom out to keep the pace moving, given such a long range. That the book does. And that detail tells it best, sometimes in chilling fashion. Goethe or Marlowe's Faust. You be the judge.

Too broadly focused.......2002-06-29

The part of Richie's book that was truly about Berlin was good. The problem was that she spent too much time and space discussing the history of Prussia/Germany. What I wanted -- and what I assume you are looking for -- is a history of the city of Berlin. That is, when buildings were constructed, details of municipal government, urban planning, major social events pertaining to the city, etc.

Transforming Barcelona: The Renewal of a European Metropolis

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Transforming Barcelona: The Renewal of a European Metropolis
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Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890-1918

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Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890-1918

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Between 1890 and 1918 the city of Berlin evolved into a commercial and industrial hub that also became an international center for radical new ideas in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Jews were key leaders in developing this unique cosmopolitan culture. Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890-1918 vividly documents the many ways that Jewish artists and entrepreneurs participated in this burst of artistic creativity and promoted the emergence of modernism on the international scene.
The book and exhibition at The Jewish Museum highlight leading cultural figures such as Max Liebermann, a founder of the Berlin Secession, and Herwarth Walden, who founded Der Sturm; artists such as Ludwig Meidner and Jakob Steinhardt; pioneers of cabaret, theater, and film, including Max Reinhardt and Ernst Lubitsch; art dealers, publishers, and writers; and leading intellectual and political figures such as Martin Buber and Georg Simmel. These and other fascinating individuals are represented by more than 200 diverse objects: paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, books, letters, posters, graphic arts, theater memorabilia, and film. The book includes eight essays by scholars of German and Jewish culture and art history that provide a truly interdisciplinary interpretation of the Berlin renaissance.
The period represented in Berlin Metropolis was a time when Jews were traditionally restricted from participating in major areas of German public life such as the army, government, and the university. But by turning to the "alternative public spheres" characteristic of urban society--galleries, cafés, journals, theaters, cabarets--they emerged as innovative cultural leaders whose intellectual and artistic impact is still felt today.
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Women in the Metropolis: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Culture (Weimar and Now - German Cultural Criticism , No 11)

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Excellent book for reviewing this time period!

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Bringing together the work of scholars in many disciplines, Women in the Metropolis provides a comprehensive introduction to women's experience of modernism and urbanization in Weimar Germany. It shows women as active participants in artistic, social, and political movements and documents the wide range of their responses to the multifaceted urban culture of Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s.
Examining a variety of media ranging from scientific writings to literature and the visual arts, the authors trace gendered discourses as they developed to make sense of and regulate emerging new images of femininity. Besides treating classic films such as Metropolis and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, the articles discuss other forms of mass culture, including the fashion industry and the revue performances of Josephine Baker. Their emphasis on women's critical involvement in the construction of their own modernity illustrates the significance of the Weimar cultural experience and its relevance to contemporary gender, German, film, and cultural studies.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book for reviewing this time period!.......2001-10-09

Women in the Metropolis is a compilation of ten essays regarding women in Germany in the early 20th century. It is an excellent source for research of women in this time period. Very easy to read and keeps your attention. I would recommend it to anyone doing research or interested in this time period and culture.

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Fritz Lang's Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)
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Moscow: Governing the Socialist Metropolis (Russian Research Center Studies)

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Timothy J. Colton's Moscow: Governing a Socialist Metropolis

Moscow: Governing the Socialist Metropolis (Russian Research Center Studies)
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Linchpin of the Soviet system and exemplar of its ideology, Moscow was nonetheless instrumental in the Soviet Union's demise. It was in this metropolis of nine million people that Boris Yeltsin, during two frustrating years as the city's party boss, began his move away from Communist orthodoxy. Colton charts the general course of events that led to this move, tracing the political and social developments that have given the city its modern character. He shows how the monolith of Soviet power broke down in the process of metropolitan governance, where the constraints of censorship and party oversight could not keep up with proliferating points of view, haphazard integration, and recurrent deviation from approved rules and goals. Everything that goes into making a city--from town planning, housing, and retail services to environmental and architectural concerns--figures in Colton's account of what makes Moscow unique. He shows us how these aspects of the city's organization, and the actions of leaders and elite groups within them, coordinated or conflicted with the overall power structure and policy imperatives of the Soviet Union. Against this background, Colton explores the growth of the anti-Communist revolution in Moscow politics, as well as fledgling attempts to establish democratic institutions and a market economy.

As it answers persistent questions about Soviet political history, this lavishly illustrated volume may also point the way to understanding Russia's future.

Customer Reviews:

Timothy J. Colton's Moscow: Governing a Socialist Metropolis.......2000-03-26

Mr. Colton's range of depth in this comprehensive book is exemplary. He has an incredible wealth of knowledge on the subject of Moscow's development both during and after the Soviet Union. His writing is superb, with many illustrations, tables, and diagrams.

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