Christian Brandstätter

Schönbrunn, Vienna's dream palace and tourist trap, has been given a good, if utterly pro-monarchy treatment of its history and famous owners in this book that is beautifully illustrated with color photographs that obscure the dreadful state of preservation the palace was in during the early 1980s. The time after the First World War is hardly mentioned. That 269 American bombs devastated part of the palace in the final days of the Second World War is also only noted as a postscript. Given show more Schönbrunn's remote location apart from any industry or transportation nexus, it being originally a hunting retreat, an examination why it became a target might have been interesting. show less

I bought this for the illustrations and these were very good, with sufficient description and intelligently linked to the text. The photos of Berlin streets and personalities were very evocative and allowed you to appreciate the distance in time. The paintings chosen were excellent, as although they were by artists that I knew, the majority were not paintings which I had previously seen.
The text is a translation from German (originally published in Austria I think) and is rather difficult show more and stilted. The introductory chapter did not "set the scene" sufficiently for me and would have benefited from greater historical/political background. This may reflect my (lack of) knowledge of German history, but the impact of outcome of the First World War was not sufficiently explained, although it is outlined.
The writing of the following chapters does set out the main artistic movements and how they are reflected in the various arts, but did not feel as if they were making a coherent explanation until about half way through, when I felt the book set out themes and illustrated them well.
The final chapter which sets out the changes after 1933 when Hitler rose to power jumps forward in time too much.
Overall - great illustrations let down by the text. show less

A well-written survey of the history of Berlin in the Twenties. So much of our culture was made in Germany.

Photographien von Roberto Scherzen
Text von Peter Haiko