Wolfgang Schivelbusch (1941–2023)

Wenn einen der erste Satz nicht schon direkt wegbläst, dann weiß ich auch nicht:

"An der technischen Entwicklung der Dampfmaschine im 18. Jahrhundert läßt sich der Prozess der Emanzipation der modernen Produktionsweise von den Schranken der organischen Natur verfolgen."

Genau das wird auf 220 Seiten ausgeführt und sorgt bei Freunden der Eisenbahn (wie mir) oder auch der Industrialisierung für Begeisterungsstürme.

ps.: Bin über den Querverweis von Rebecca Solnits "Wanderlust" hier show more gelandet - quasi das Gegenstück zu diesem Buch, wenn wir über Flanieren sprechen. show less

Essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in any of the following: railroads, technology, communication, vision, travel, industrialization, time, the United States, Europe, or the nineteenth century. That should be just about everybody.

This is one of the most fantastic books I've ever read, readable but scholarly (as so many books strive to be, but fall short on one end or the other). Schivelbusch examines railroads and their considerable impact on nineteenth-century life. Most show more interesting to me was his argument about perception and vision, which had to be restructured or rethought because of the different modes of viewing the RR required. show less

Translated from the German, this book talks about the evolution of delights such as chocolate, beer, and tobacco. Though the book frames itself as addressing the full phenomena, it feels very incomplete as it strongly focuses on England, Germany, France, and that immediate area of Europe; there is hardly anything on the Asiatic or New World sources and the original peoples. The topics are interesting, though, and there are many black and white photographs and illustrations that accompany the show more text. show less

A history of stimulants and intoxicants in Europe and America over the last two thousand years, with especial focus to the impacts of colonialism and the industrial revolution. Full of fascinating details (see my status updates for specifics). There is a great deal of sociological and psychological analysis for such a short book, and some of his conclusions seem more reasonable than others. (For instance, it seems probable that coffee was embraced by the middle class and chocolate by the show more upper class because each class treasures different values. But that drinking alcohol is considered more spiritual than eating, and this is somehow linked to the soul residing in blood, I just don't get.) My real criticism of this book, however, is that it features a large proportion of grey blobs which are purported to be reproductions of portraits, political cartoons, etc. Either put some money into your picture budget, or leave them out entirely; as it stands, the included reproductions are so smudgy that they were basically useless. show less