Martin Kitchen (1) (1936–)

A wonderfully illustrated, occasionally brilliant, highly opinionated (author is a Europhile, to be sure!) work, with some lapses in proofreading.
This work is predictably similar in design to others of the series which I have read.
It did revive my interest in 18th Century Painting.

"National Socialism was both modern and atavistic, divided within itself and unable to reconcile its inherent contradictions. Albert Speer is a personification of this ambiguity. As Minister of Armaments he stood for modern technology, mass production, rationalization, big business and unrestrained capitalism--even though subject to certain wartime controls. As Hitler's Haussman and Le Nôtre, he planned to build massive atavistic cult monuments that were a defiant rejection of modernity." show more (p 33)

Elsewhere, he quotes Thomas Mann as saying "...the really characteristic and dangerous aspect National Socialism was the mixture of robust modernity and an affirmative stance towards progress combined with dreams of the past: a high technological romanticism". (p 37) show less

Excellente biographie, avec un petit plus. Ce petit plus c'est le ricanement devant la légende construite par Speer... qui était indubitablement un pauvre type et un incroyable menteur.

PRIMERA GAVETA ( IZQ. ) PARTE PENULTIMA O TERCERA DE ARRIBA HACIA ABAJO.