An enthralling and profoundly humane book that every civilized person should read. --The Wall Street Journal The blockbuster New York Times bestseller and the companion volume to the wildly popular radio seriesWhen did people first start to wear jewelry or play music? When were cows domesticated; and why do we feed their milk to our children? Where were the first cities; and what made them succeed? Who developed math--or invented money? The history of humanity is one of invention and innovation; as we have continually created new things to use; to admire; or leave our mark on the world. In this groundbreaking book; Neil MacGregor turns to objects that previous civilizations have left behind to paint a portrait of mankinds evolution; focusing on unexpected turning points. Beginning with a chopping tool from the Olduvai Gorge in Africa and ending with a recent innovation that is transforming the way we power our world; he urges us to see history as a kaleidoscope--shifting; interconnected; constantly surprising. A landmark bestseller; A History of the World in 100 Objects is one f the most unusual and engrossing history books to be published in years. ldquo;None could have imagined quite how the radio series would permeate the national consciousness. Well over 12.5 million podcasts have been downloaded since the first programme and more than 550 museums around Britain have launched similar series featuring local history. . . . MacGregorrsquo;s voice comes through as distinctively as it did on radio and his arguments about the interconnectedness of disparate societies through the ages are all the stronger for the detail afforded by extra space. A book to savour and start over.rdquo;mdash;The EconomistFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
#55073 in eBooks 2012-02-07 2012-02-07File Name: B0050DIWGQ
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The Triumph and Tragedy of a World LostBy Greg PolanskyFrom the cosmopolitan salons of fin-de-siegrave;cle Vienna to the interwar years when Vienna was a shadow of its former glory to the terrible years of the Anschluss and finally to the courtrooms of the postwar period. this book is an extraordinary masterpiece of history. This is the story of Adele Bloch-Bauer. the lady in gold of the famous Klimt painting.The story begins close to the present when finally the Klimt painting was handed over by Austria to the family of Adele in 2006. But then backwards in time we go to the late 19th century. To a cosmopolitan Imperial city - Vienna. A glorious Vienna where women of the "second society" (read: liberated. secular. wealthy Jews and non-aristocrats) were able to hold salons for the artists and authors who would never have been exposed to the public or gained so much fame otherwise. But it was also frequented by the famous too. Mark Twain stopped by on his travels through Europe and received a warm welcome from the people open to modernity but was also vilified by the establishment. The first female doctor in Vienna visited. The composers Mahler and Strauss frequented the salons. And so did artists. including Klimt. And while we get a lot on the world of this society of the liberated Jews. we also learn a lot about Klimt.After recreating this world of artistic and intellectual ferment. however. the book turns dark. The Fall of the Habsburg Empire was a catastrophe for Imperial Vienna. No longer was Vienna the center of a multicultural polyglot empire. Now it was only the capital of the rump state of Austria. And vastly reduced in population and glory. The book is part a biography of Klimt. Part a biography of Adele Bloch-Bauer (and her many relations). But it is also a biography of Vienna. And while the interwar years were not great for Vienna. the deepest darkness was still to come during the Anschluss. Now the society of the salons would be broken. And lost forever. The Nazis would attempt to erase the cultural brilliance from history. The names would attempt to be forgotten. The Germanification of Austria would leave no room for Jews or the part they played in making Vienna a capital of modernity.The Nazi years when the family scattered through Europe. the postwar period when Vienna was occupied by the four main Allies. the end of deNazification in 48 because Vienna was important to the West and was not going to be lost to the Communist Soviets are all discussed and the families that are the core of the book weather the tempests of time. Though not all make it. Some are lost to firing squads. Some to suicide. Some to Concentration Camps. Some made it through the Fascist years but ended up killed by Titos forces in Yugoslavia (part of the family had huge assets there). And then the story continues in the new world where some of Adeles descendants survived.But it also continues in a disgusting version of Austria. And the last part of the book discusses the collective amnesia. And how the Austrians now would not let any art leave the country because art was part of the national cultural patrimony. But some lesser works could leave if the owners whose works were stolen would agree to more valuable works staying. This post-war Austria eventually succumbs to something better and so the story ends in the period when the stolen artworks begin to be reclaimed by the original ownerss families.The book is a masterpiece of story telling. The author recreates the world and makes you identify with these historical personages. For anyone who wants to know more about Austrian history. this is a great book to read. For anyone who loves history. this is a great book to read.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. To Tell The Truth Is To Glow And BurnBy Catherine SargentAdele Bloch Bauer "The Lady in Gold" and her niece Maria Altman are smiling in Heaven now. Their fascinating lives of beauty. loss and remembrance reveals a deeper truth beneath the golden surface of the stolen art.. I applaud Maria for reclaiming her aunts portrait from the Austrian museum and selling it as well as the Klimt paintings for 300 milion nearly sixty years later!! And she didnt even buy a new dishwaher witth the money she got according to her caregiver. Marias raiders of the lost art story is not "degenerate art". Art like mythology is an over arching frame of reference that tells an individual who they are and where they are going. During the reading. I began to ask myself how could these decent cultured Austrian people allow or think it was okay to collude with the Naziis in art theft from the Jewish people? Allied bombs came crashing into their opera houses and the art museums.. For instance Gustav Mahler the director of the Vienna State Opera was a good friend of Hitlers? How could a cultured talented man be a friend of Hitler? Maria also revealed that it was a secret that Americans were working with former Naziis Dr. Herbert Wagner after WWII. Some of Wagner and his scientists had performed abominable experiments on Jewish victims at concentration camps (P. 258-259)Dr. Wagner and Werner von Braun another member of the SS were later used to help jumpstart NASA in the United States. though they had overseen slave labor operations where thousands have died." Maria Altman also stated that former Nazi governor Baldur von Schirarch had served only 20 years and lived long enough to be interviewed by David Frost. His concluding alibi with Frost was a a quote from "Alice in Wonderland"?Also. Maria reflected that her gestapo minder Felix Landau was barely punished and lived for years in Bravaria as an interior designer. He loved fairytales and had a famous Hungarian painter paint fairytales on the walls of his childs personal nursery room.I would love to help these war criminal re story their lives with parables and art from the Bible rather than fairytales. I have to agree with Adelle that art is an essential prism for understanding the world and to help people to see things differently..1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. InterestingBy Cynthia F. PowellThis book was much more than I expected. Our book club was reading it for our movie tie-in. The book covers much more than the movie did. It covered history and the culture from late 1800s through the legal battle to claim the stolen art and the resulting conflicts. It is easy to get lost in the details. the many names and dates. the many relationships. That being said it is well worth the read. Many lessons here from history. including details many may never have learned. that mankind must never forget and pray is never repeated.
