Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin - Hardcover

A radical and exciting history of a city – its culture, its people and its politics – that refreshes our image of Europe’s past and of the writing of history itself.

In Berlin, history is tangible. The sense of the past – of Europe, of Germany, and in particular of the twentieth century with its myths, depravities, idealism and horror – hangs in the air around the old Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. No other city has played such a part in the tides of twentieth-century European affairs.

Faust’s Metropolis is a rich and inspiring history of this city, a breathtaking portrait of its people and a thorough evaluation of its achievements and errors. From the revolutionary fervour of its teeming slums, the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, and the frantic modernism of Weimar to 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. Alexandra Richie writes superbly of its role as a crucible of change.

Full of humour and with an inimitable personal view of the modern capital of reunited Germany, Faust’s Metropolis also offers a scholarly, thematic analysis of the ways in which the city has reinvented itself through the ages, the tensions which historically existed between Berliners and other Germans, the crucial role which Berlin has played in shaping the political and cultural life of Europe. In drawing together the complex strands of its actual and imagined past, Alexandra Richie reveals herself as an extraordinary new talent in her field.

In Berlin, history is almost tangible. The sense of the past – of Europe, of Germany, and in particular of the twentieth century with its myths, depravities, idealism and horror – hangs in the air around the Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. It is for good reason that Berlin has been named the 'Schicksal Stadt Deutschlands', the city of German destiny. No other city has played such a part in the tides of twentieth-century European affairs, none been so lionised, so mythologized, so cast down.

'Faust’s Metropolis' is an exciting, radical history of this city, a breathtaking portrait of its achievements and errors from the time of its founding in the twelfth century until the present day. From the revolutionary fervour of its teeming slums, to the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, from the frantic modernism of Weimar to the brutality of the Nazis, to 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. Alexandra Richie writes superbly of its role as a crucible of change.

With Berlin poised to become the capital of a united Germany, its role in that country’s past has taken an greater significance. This extraordinary ambitious but supremely assured history offers a scholarly, thematic analysis of the ways in which the city has reinvented itself through the ages, the tensions which historically existed between Berliners and other Germans, and the crucial role which Berlin has played in shaping the political and cultural life of Europe. In drawing together the complex strands of its actual and imagined past, Alexandra Richie reveals herself as a brilliant new historian formidably in command of a fascinating subject.