After World War II Berlin became one of the playgrounds of the Cold War; the Berlin Wall made the division between East and West, between ‘capitalism’ and ‘communism’ in 1961 highly visible, though it did remove Berlin from front-line politics. East and West Berlin had turned into shop-windows of ideologies – West Berlin representing the lure of a market economy, East Berlin the promise of socialism. It is, then, fitting that the fall of the Wall in 1989 awarded Berlin such a prominent role. It was here that the development after Reunification of East and West became a closely observed event – and, well beyond Germany, Berlin appeared to represent fundamental developments throughout Europe at the time. Today, Berlin is the capital of reunified Germany and therefore one of the key political players in the European Union (EU) and it’s now a desirable destination for young entrepreneurs. The Historical Dictionary of Berlin contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, places, institutions, and events. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Berlin.

One of the aims of the book is to shed more light on the notion Neue Sachlichkeit in its appearance in a variety of fields as painting, architecture, music, photography and literature, in order to get a clearer idea of its scope. Several contributions will do so by analysing the heterogeneity in the use of the term concerning its function in the fight for recognition in the art-fields around 1930 - in other words, Neue Sachlichkeit will be analysed as a positioning strategy. Especially its participation in the broader discourse on modernity, as well as its international and intermedial dimension will be highlighted, often using the historical avant-garde as point of reference. From this perspective, the present volume wants to be read as a plea for a differentiated description of the many shared aspects and some differences between the avant-garde and Neue Sachlichkeit.

From the first Modernist exhibitions in the late 1890s to the Soviet rupture with the West in the mid-1930s, Russian artists and writers came into wide contact with modern European art and ideas. Introducing a wealth of little-known material set in an illuminating interpretive context, this sourcebook presents Russian and Soviet views of Western art during this critical period of cultural transformation. The writings document complex responses to these works and ideas before the Russians lost contact with them almost entirely. Many of these writings have been unavailable to foreign readers and, until recently, were not widely known even to Russian scholars. Both an important reference and a valuable resource for classrooms, the book includes an introductory essay and shorter introductions to the individual sections.

This book examines the history of American exhibitions of Russian art in the twentieth century in the context of the Cold War. Because this history reflects changes in museological theory and the role of governments in facilitating or preventing intercultural cooperation, it uncovers a story that is far more complex than a chronological listing of exhibition names and art works. Roann Barris considers questions of stylistic appropriations and influences and the role of museum exhibitions in promoting international and artistic exchanges. Barris reveals that Soviet and American exchanges in the world of art were extensive and persistent despite political disagreements before, during, and after the Cold War. It also reveals that these early exhibitions communicated contradictory and historically invalid pictures of the Russian or Soviet avant-garde. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, museum studies, and Russian studies.

In 1917 the Bolsheviks proclaimed a world remade. This book shows how Soviet cinema encouraged popular support of state initiatives in the years up to the Second World War, helping to create a new Russian identity & territory, an 'imaginary geography' of Sovietness.

In the autumn of 1922, Lenin personally drew up a list of some 220 "undesirable" intellectuals - mostly philosophers, academics, scientists, and journalists - to be deported before the creation of the Soviet Union in December that year. Two ships sailed from Petrograd that autumn, taking around seventy of these eminent men and their families away to what became permanent exile in Berlin, Prague, and Paris. Lenin's Private War tells the story of these writers, journalists, and scholars expelled from their homeland. It describes the world they left behind, and the emigre communities they were forced to join. Lesley Chamberlain paints a rich portrait of this chilling historical moment using the journals, letters, and memoirs of those involved. Lenin's Private War also tells the story of the fate of ideas: not just those of Lenin, but also of the men forced to leave their homeland. Men like Nicholas Berdyaev, Semyon Frank, and Sergei Bulgakov made unique contributions to the intellectual life of the twentieth century through their work on creativity and faith. They perpetuated core Russian cultural traditions that were banned in the Soviet Union and incomparably deepened Western understanding of Russian history and culture.

An ideal and welcome reference and reader for students of urbanism, Metropolis 1890-1940 examines perceptions of the city during the dramatic urban growth of this period. Metropolis looks at the policies adopted to deal with the new city and at the views of the city expressed in the art, architecture, literature, cinema, music, and ideology of the time. Internationally known experts discuss case studies of London, Paris, Berlin, the Ruhr, New York, Moscow, and Tokyo, and a postscript brings the reader up to date with a survey of postwar urbanism.