depression troublesome abstraction architecture

books:

Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941

3 reviews
Ian Kershaw

Penguin Press HC, The, 2007

Very well researched. An excellent read.
Ian Kershaw's book is an elegantly-written masterful work of history but rather dense at some points and more of an academic nature than an easy read. In "Fateful Choices" Kershaw cast a critical eye over ten decisions taken during a 19-month period at the beginning of the Second World War that, according to Kershaw, determined not just the outcome of the war but also (in good part) the structure ...

Action/Abstraction: Pollock, De Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 (Jewish Museum)

2 reviews

Jewish Museum Under Auspices of the Jewish Th, 2008

Clement Greenberg or Harold Rosenberg? Who was right?
This is a magnificent artbook enriched by breakthrough studies on the most important movement in post-war American art, namely Abstract Expressionism (and its offshoots like color-field painting). Based on the intellectual rivalry between the two most famous critics of the period, Clement Greenberg (the advocate of abstraction, who insisted on the importance of the work of art versus the creative ...

Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great ...

10 reviews
David E. Kyvig

Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2004

A fast read, like an 8th grade social studies text
This was a great read. I like how the author highlighted the social and the economic and the cultural changes that took place during these formative years in 20th century America. You read about the genius, yet uncompromising Henry Ford, who designed the Model T, and later the Model A, but failed in his bid to create a winning farm tractor (they kept tipping over backward). You will also read ...

Arts & Architecture, 1945-54: The Complete Reprint
David Travers

TASCHEN America Llc, 2008

Ten years, ten boxes, 118 issues, 6,076 pages! The seminal architecture journal resurrected in facsimile The first part (1945-1954) of our facsimile edition of John Entenza's groundbreaking magazine, which launched the Case Study House Program; in ten boxes, each containing one year's worth of magazines "A&A was instrumental in putting American Architecture on the map." "A legendary West Coast magazine." Newsweek, New York From the end of ...

Sarah's Key

69 reviews
Tatiana de Rosnay

St. Martin's Griffin, 2008

A Haunting Novel That Will Steal Your Heart and Words
Anyone who has read my reviews or knows me, knows that I am a Vixen of Verbosity, a Woman of Words, an Opiner of my Opinions. I usually have no problem telling people precisely what I think about things, whether they be books, food, beauty products, or politics! With Sarah's Key, I find myself in difficult and unfamiliar terrain. I truly can't find the right words to articulate my deep ...

The World at Night: A Novel

34 reviews
Alan Furst

Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002

The Debasement of Wartime France
One character in "The World at Night" sums it up the best: "One had a few friends, but mostly people were meant to be used, one way or another, and if you weren't born knowing that you had better learn it somewhere along the way." This sort of cynicism typifies the Paris of this novel, where almost everyone is trying to go along to get along, cherishing black market goods and making deals, as ...

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

632 reviews
Anne Frank

Bantam, 1993

Amazing, This is the best book I have ever read...
This is truly one of the greatest books ever written. As a reader reads this book, he will see a young girl blossoming into a phenomenal young woman. All in the confines of her family's "Secret Annexe", while in hiding from the Gestapo, and to keep from being captured, and sent to a concentration camp. As I read this book, I felt Anne Frank was speaking to me. I felt her anger, her rebellion, ...

Five Days in London: May 1940

57 reviews
John Lukacs

Yale University Press, 2001

It's caviar.
Several reviewers here don't appreciate scholarly writing. Lukacs (and his editor) didn't adulterate concise prose to produce a coffee table book. There are no fictions here; its conclusions are based on carefully and voluminously researched facts. Lukacs HAD to include concrete historical reference; his argument would have been incomplete without it, his conclusions unconvincing. Yes, he's ...

Suite Francaise

374 reviews
Irene Nemirovsky

Vintage, 2007

One of the best, by far.
When a friend handed me her copy of Suite Francaise my first thought was that it would not be my sort of thing, with its 1940's movie character cover and "secret manuscript hidden away by author's daughters for more than 60 years" backstory. How wrong I was! This is one of the very best books I've ever read. It is so beautifully translated that you catch your breath over its wonderful phrasing, ...

Dunkirk Crescendo (Zion Covenant)

4 reviews
Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene

Tyndale House Publishers, 2005

Minor Protection Act
A must-read for anyone concerned about religious liberty and parental rights in America. This is a great fictional story woven intricately together with what could happen. Your children could be considered raised in a hostile environment (and potentially removed from your home) because they attend a Christian school and what can you do about it? The author is a great storyteller and you won't ...

A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940

38 reviews
William Trotter

Algonquin Books, 2000

Best Book on Winter War in english
My mother was evacuated from Karelia at the age of 15 years and my father fought in the Winter War. My Finnish parents emigrated to South Africa and I was born here. Therefore my dominant language is english and my sons speak no Finnish. This is a wonderful book to pass on this story to my english speaking children. It is easy to understand and interesting to read. It reads like an entertaining ...

The Winged Watchman (Living History Library (Warsaw, N.D.).)

12 reviews
Hilda Van Stockum

Bethlehem Books, 1995

The Winged Watchman
The Winged Watchman is a fictional story about a Dutch family, the Verhagens, who live in a mill in the middle of WWII. They include Mother, Father, Joris, and Dirk Jan. Throughout the process of the book there are many additions to the Verhagen family. They include Trixie (a little Jewish girl who's parents were taken away at the beginning of the war), Freya (an abused dog rescued by Joris), ...

Jackdaws

147 reviews
Ken Follett

Signet, 2002

A Feat--and a Feast
Ken Follet achieves the nearly impossible task of creating genuine suspense about an event that is well-known, using fresh characters, clever plotting, and surprising twists on an old story. You will enjoy this book on a long plane flight, or just sitting out on your porch during the lazy days of summer. I always enjoy Ken Follet's approach to history--crackerjack pacing, strong dialogue, and a ...

Is Paris Burning

20 reviews
Dominique Lapierre, Larry Collins

Grand Central Publishing, 1991

Courage and Heroism
This is a very moving story of courage and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. It is evident that the authors did alot of research on the story. It helps that they are both journalists by profession. One thing I would like to see is how the major players lives turned out since. Perhaps in the next edition. I bought the movie on DVD at the same time as this book. Reading the book adds ...

The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945

29 reviews
Jörg Friedrich

Columbia University Press, 2008

A Masterful Contribution to the Literature on World War II
Joerg Friedrich's book is an invaluable contribution to the history of the Second World War that was long overdue. Until very recently it was taboo for Germans like him to write about the devastation of their country for fear of antagonizing their Anglo-American occupiers and newfound allies. The British press and public especially vented outrage whenever a native of Germany dared broach the ...

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

36 reviews
Lynne Olson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007

G. K. Chesterton, Churchill and the Young Men
Those who enjoy this book should read a newly released book that brings back into print some of the writings of G. K. Chesterton. He was, by the 1930s a "troublesome old man" who (like Churchill) got little respect for warning about the menace that Germany posed to European peace. He had done so as far back World War I and continued to do so, despite the fuss he created, during Hitler's rise to ...

The Diary of Anne Frank

12 reviews
Wendy Ann Kesselman, Albert Hackett

Dramatists Play Service, 1998

Amazing Book
Online Reader- After having just read this book for an English assiment I have only just now realized how much a War can do to someone. I admit to crying throughout the book, and while reading I was heartbroken to hear of all of the misfortune that befell these inocent people. And to think that one man-Hitler-could cause all of this pain and misery made me insanly angry at him, and ashamed ...

The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940

2 reviews
Anthony J. Badger

Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2002

Outstanding Book on the Great Depression and the New Deal
Anthony Badger is a most distinguished professor of history at Cambridge in England. Few people better understand the Great Depression in America and the New Deal than Badger. This is a work of the highest caliber. The book should actually be titled "The Great Depression and the New Deal," because it first brilliantly describes the Great Depression and the causes. He presents differing ...

Form & Function: American Modernist Jewelry, 1940-1970

1 review
Marbeth Schon

Schiffer Publishing, 2008

Another Marbeth Modernists Masterpiece!
What a book! Just when you think you know our American Jewelry Modernists, Marbeth gives us her second book and so much more to appreciate. Her indepth knowledge of their lives and the delish jewelry photography makes one wish we owned them all. For decades without knowing about these Marvy Modernists, I have shared their passion for manipulating metal in my own primitive manner, never ...

Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945

29 reviews
Marie Vassiltchikov

Vintage, 1988

An Elegant Scrounger
Following the collapse of the Romanov Empire (Russia), the Hapsburg Empire (Austria) and the Hohenzollern Empire (Germany) in the wake of World War I, Europe was overrun by aristocratic refugees. Some of them had family fortunes commensurate with their impressive titles, others did not. One of these impoverished, but well-educated young aristocrats was Princess Marie Vassiltchikov, who was ...

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