1913 : the year before the storm
Illies, Florian, 1971-2013
Book
"An absolute gem of a book." --"The Observer "Just before one of its darkest moments came the twentieth century's most exciting year . . . It was the year Henry Ford first put a conveyer belt in his car factory, and the year Louis Armstrong first picked up a trumpet. It was the year Charlie Chaplin signed his first movie contract, and Coco Chanel and Prada opened their first dress shops. It was the year Proust began his opus, Stravinsky wrote "The Rite of Spring," and the first Armory Show in New York introduced the world to Picasso and the world of abstract art. It was the year the recreational drug now known as ecstasy was invented. It was 1913, the year before the world plunged into the catastrophic darkness of World War I. In a witty yet moving narrative that progresses month by month through the year, and is interspersed with numerous photos and documentary artifacts (such as Kafka's love letters), Florian Illies ignores the conventions of the stodgy tome so common in "one year" histories. Forefronting cultural matters as much as politics, he delivers a charming and riveting tale of a world full of hope and unlimited possibility, peopled with amazing characters and radical politics, bristling with new art and new technology . . . even as ominous storm clouds began to gather.An account of European society on the brink of war, 1913 is an intimate cultural portrait of a world that is about to change forever. Kafka falls in love; Louis Armstrong learns to play the trumpet; a young seamstress called Coco Chanel opens her first boutique; Charlie Chaplin signs his first movie contract; and new drugs like cocaine usher in an age of decadence. Yet everywhere there is the premonition of ruin.
Main title:
1913 : the year before the storm / Florian Illies ; translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside and Jamie Lee Searle.
Imprint:
Brooklyn, N.Y. : Melville House, 2013London : Clerkenwell Press, 2013.ÙƯ2012.
Collation:
268 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Notes:
"First published in Germany titled 1913: Der Sommer des Jahrhunderts.""First published in Germany entitled 1913: Der Sommer des Jahrhunderts." -- T.p verso.Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-266)Includes bibliography (pages 264-270)In english translated from the original German.
Shelving notes:
29513 0000113045 1 15-09-2013 99 nyctro 17-09-2013 7
ISBN:
97818466896429781612193519 (hardback)
Dewey class:
940.288940.288
LC class:
D410.5 1913
Language:
EnglishGerman
Subject:
Nineteen thirteen, A.D.History, Modern -- 20th centuryAuthors and artists -- Europe -- AnecdotesEurope -- Civilization -- HistoryEurope -- Intellectual lifeEurope -- History -- AnecdotesEurope -- History -- 20th centuryEurope -- Civilization -- 20th centuryEurope -- Intellectual life -- 20th century -- AnecdotesEurope -- Politics and government -- 1871-1918
BRN:
5759
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Library at the Dock | -History | HISTORY 940.288 ILLI | Available |