This is a study of a distinctive brand of modernism that first emerged in late nineteenth-century Germany and remained influential throughout the inter-war years and beyond. Its supporters saw themselves as a new elite; ideally placed to tackle the many challenges facing the young and rapidly industrializing German nation-state. They defined themselves as bourgeois; and acted as self-appointed champions of a modern consciousness. Focusing on figures such as HermannMuthesius; Fritz Schumacher; and Karl-Ernst Osthaus; and the activities of the Deutscher Werkbund and other networks of bourgeois designers; writers; and experts; this book shows how bourgeois modernism shaped the infrastructure of social and political life in early twentieth-century Germany.Bourgeois modernism exercised its power not so much in the realm of ideas; but by transforming the physical environment of German cities; from domestic interiors; via consumer objects; to urban and regional planning. Drawing on a detailed analysis of key material sites of bourgeois modernism; and interpreting them in conjunction with written sources; this study offers new insights into the history of the bourgeois mindset and its operations in the private and public realms. Thematic chaptersexamine leitmotifs such as the sense of locality and place; the sense of history and time; and the sense of nature and culture. Yet for all its self-conscious progressivism; German bourgeois modernism was not an inevitable precursor of neo-liberal global capitalism. It remained a hotly contestedhistorical construct; which was constantly re-defined in different geographical and political settings.
#2099070 in eBooks 2007-03-20 2007-03-20File Name: B006OMMU06
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Stearns does shed excellent light on context and insight into the band and ...By Chris HertleinIve been listening to this album for about 14 years. Its one of the most influential albums of my young life and for certain helped me expand out of the tight circle of music I had back in my teenage high school years. I regularly wax poetic about it to anyone who will bother to listen.But this book... whoa.Stearns is a music journalist. Every single section begins with a quote or an excerpt from somewhere. Then an exceptionally hyperbolic thesis statement on how each aspect explored is the most masterful thing to have ever been committed to tape.The music. The themes. The settings.I swear to god if I have to read. see or hear any other piece of media that claims New York City is just as much a character / part of the band I will shoot myself.I cringed half the time I was reading this book. The masturbatory purple prose seems to SEEK to make you feel uncomfortable.However...What I find most fascinating about the book is the depictions actually shown from the interviews and quotes from Sonic Youth and the sound engineer that worked on Daydream Nation.While Stearns is stumbling over himself to gush maximally over anything and everything Sonic Youth. the most refreshing part of the book is that the members of Sonic Youth seem humble and modest in comparison. It further grounds an already down-to-Earth band which lends more power to the material.Stearns does shed excellent light on context and insight into the band and the thoughts and feelings poured into the creation of the album along the way which makes the price of admission worth it. if you can just push through the cringe worthy prose. A lovely irony I weaved into the narrative happens most often during the track by track analysis. While walking the reader step by step through each song. Stearns reaches *REAL* hard into his high school English AP skills and digs hard into the symbolism and imagery of the songs. Theres a section where Lee Ranaldo describes how he was floored by reading Raymond Carvers "What We Do When We Talk About Love" for the first time and how he fell in love with American Minimalist writers and the power they packed into such sparse stories. Theres more density in what you didnt say than what you did is the lesson to be gleamed there... but Stearns seems to bruise. batter and contort EVERY SINGLE LYRIC to tease out any and all literal possible meanings of whats happening in each song. And if you get a feel for what Ranaldo says about Carver and the types of stream-of-consciousness thats employed in it... the analysis feels like hes reaching HARD or more often just plain wrong. Yet... I find myself empathizing because he does truly love the album and he seeks to apply and project his own lens and vocabulary onto it in the ways he knows how. So I cant fault him. Even if it is so brazenly self-indulgent.Being a sort of counter-culturalist at heart. I havent decided if its a stroke of genius for Stearns to gush so exceptionally over the album that its forced me to confront my own feelings and ideas about how I perceive the album and I find myself really analyzing it for what *I* like about the music and album as a whole rather than fall prey to the 160 page circle jerk session this lends.I really think its worth reading. but please. take it for a heaping grain of salt. Remember what YOU like and why you like it and compare it against what you read.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. In Contrast...By Z. StieglerI have to say that this is actually on of my favorites in the series so far. Stearns was able to go to the source. and spent a lot of time interviewing members of SY. which adds a lot of great information and depth to his book. I was also incredibly hooked by the introduction. where Stearns has some incredibly insightful things to say about music. recorded sound and the album format in general. I appear to be in the minority here. but I rank this one highly.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy James PeabodyA+
