My posts labelled "book review" ain't really book reviews, just me making a note of something I felt relevant to this blog and also to seek closure.
I used to measure the success of a holiday by the number of books I finished reading (always in single digits, but that is beside the point). A book read represents closure and nowadays that is more important to me, retirement having significantly reduced the import of holidays.
Also I am working through my accumulation of stuff while trying not to add to it.
This book I bought for the price of $A4.95 in the early 1980s and carted it around ever since. It is best described as a coffee table book, but the author. Susanne Everett, at least at the time of publication, was married to John Keegan, the military historian. This book is about cultural history centred on Berlin between the wars. Lots of names, most of which I didn't recognise, but enough to keep little sparks of recognition firing.
In playing Weimar I was reminded of this book and thought it would be a good time to read it. Of course I couldn't find it. Searching was futile and I gave up. Then it appeared! Kind of a reverse Murphy's Law.
It is 200 pages, but about 100 pages of images, mostly photos but some posters.
Of course it covers the Nazi's sublimation of the arts, either by causing talent to decamp or by simply imposing their own, which would be mostly horrid expect for perhaps two films Leni Riefenstahl: Triumph of the Will and Olympia, neither of which I have seen. They also produced some striking posters, most if not all of which would be banned in these enlightened times for displaying swastikas (often in abundance) or for representing hate speech.
Written before the fall of the Berlin Wall it makes for an interesting historical perspective. I am sure the same book if written today would draw parallels between the rise of the fascism and what we are observing today. The book is oblivious to this of course, but the parallels are plain to see, at least the seeds.
Book read and some interesting background provided for the next game of Weimar in which I will be playing the KPD - the Communists.
