Landscapes of Communism

A History Through Buildings

Nonfiction, History, Asian, Former Soviet Republics, Art & Architecture, Architecture
Cover of the book Landscapes of Communism by Owen Hatherley, The New Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Owen Hatherley ISBN: 9781620971895
Publisher: The New Press Publication: March 1, 2016
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Owen Hatherley
ISBN: 9781620971895
Publisher: The New Press
Publication: March 1, 2016
Imprint:
Language: English

When communism took power in Eastern Europe it remade cities in its own image, transforming everyday life and creating sweeping boulevards and vast, epic housing estates in an emphatic declaration of a noncapitalist idea. The regimes that built them are now dead and long gone, but from Warsaw to Berlin, Moscow to postrevolutionary Kiev, the buildings remain, often populated by people whose lives were scattered by the collapse of communism.

Landscapes of Communism is a journey of historical discovery, plunging us into the lost world of socialist architecture. Owen Hatherley, a brilliant, witty, young urban critic shows how power was wielded in these societies by tracing the sharp, sudden zigzags of official communist architectural style: the superstitious despotic rococo of high Stalinism, with its jingoistic memorials, palaces, and secret policemen’s castles; East Germany’s obsession with prefabricated concrete panels; and the metro systems of Moscow and Prague, a spectacular vindication of public space that went further than any avant-garde ever dared. Throughout his journeys across the former Soviet empire, Hatherley asks what, if anything, can be reclaimed from the ruins of Communism-what residue can inform our contemporary ideas of urban life?

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When communism took power in Eastern Europe it remade cities in its own image, transforming everyday life and creating sweeping boulevards and vast, epic housing estates in an emphatic declaration of a noncapitalist idea. The regimes that built them are now dead and long gone, but from Warsaw to Berlin, Moscow to postrevolutionary Kiev, the buildings remain, often populated by people whose lives were scattered by the collapse of communism.

Landscapes of Communism is a journey of historical discovery, plunging us into the lost world of socialist architecture. Owen Hatherley, a brilliant, witty, young urban critic shows how power was wielded in these societies by tracing the sharp, sudden zigzags of official communist architectural style: the superstitious despotic rococo of high Stalinism, with its jingoistic memorials, palaces, and secret policemen’s castles; East Germany’s obsession with prefabricated concrete panels; and the metro systems of Moscow and Prague, a spectacular vindication of public space that went further than any avant-garde ever dared. Throughout his journeys across the former Soviet empire, Hatherley asks what, if anything, can be reclaimed from the ruins of Communism-what residue can inform our contemporary ideas of urban life?

More books from The New Press

Cover of the book Madison's Music by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Understanding Mass Incarceration by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven? by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Consumer Society Reader by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Fukushima by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book A People's History of Poverty in America by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Remembering Jim Crow by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book In Praise of Love by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book 12 Angry Men by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The Other College Guide by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Playing in the Light by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Bordered Lives by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book Out of the Classroom and into the World by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book A Perilous Path by Owen Hatherley
Cover of the book The New Threat by Owen Hatherley
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy