Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin by Alexandra Richie. New York. 1998. Carroll & Graf. 0786705108. 1139 pages. hardcover.

  
DESCRIPTION - In Berlin, history is almost tangible. The sense of the past—of Europe, of Germany, and most of all, of the twentieth century's myths, idealism, depravities, and horror— hangs in the air around the Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. No other city has played such a part in twentieth-century Europe, nor has any been so mythologized, so glorified, so cast down. In this magisterial new work, Oxford historian Alexandra Richie recounts how Berlin forged itself into the Schicksal Stadt Deutschlands—the City of German Destiny—and the enormous consequences. Faust's Metropolis is an exciting, radical history of this city, a breathtaking portrait of its people, and a thorough evaluation of its achievements and errors from the time of its founding in the twelfth century until the present day. From the revolutionary fervor of its teeming slums and the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, to the frantic modernism of Weimar, the brutality of the Nazis, and the symbolic defeat of communism as the Wall came down, Berlin has played host to all the movements that have uplifted and afflicted German and European history. Richie writes superbly of its role as a crucible of change. She also traces its surprisingly heterogeneous social forces, which belie the Prussian and Nazi myths of a single German Volk, and the tensions between Berliners and other Germans from the early days of nationhood to their country's present crossroads. Unmatched in scope and scholarship, Faust's Metropolis is history at its most enthralling. It presents an encyclopedic history of this ever-changing city, a vivid social portrait of its citizens, and a thorough evaluation of its political and cultural legacy. Wresting Berlin's actual past from its myths, Richie arrives as a brilliant, authoritative new historian formidably in command of her fascinating subject.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY - Alexandra Richie is the author of the critically acclaimed Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin. Dr Richie received her DPhil at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and was later a Fellow of Wolfson College. She has lectured on international politics and history across the world, from Warsaw University to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She lives in Warsaw with her husband and two children.

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