Review by Choice Review
In this splendid collection of essays edited by James-Chakraborty (architecture, Univ. of California, Berkeley), eight authors subject to intensive inquiry the history of the Bauhaus, from its origins in the Deutscher Werkbund to its eventual diffusion after WW II. Extensive archival research provides deeper and more nuanced understandings of the political struggles between Gropius, Muthesius, and Van der Velde in the formative period; of Gropius's preference for the centrality of building rather than architecture at the Bauhaus; of the Bauhaus concerns with consumerism; of the festivals that lent a spirited atmosphere to the Bauhaus; of various Bauhausers' efforts to salvage their ideals under the Nazis; of differing attempts to revive the Bauhaus after the war; of the complexities of the reception of Bauhaus modernism in the US; and much more. One cannot read these essays without being made aware of the extraordinary difficulties to which vanguard creative thinkers were subjected at the nexus of the struggle between National Socialism, communism, and democracy and as individuals with strong personal agendas. The book is a triumph of collective scholarly ambition. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals. J. Quinan University at Buffalo, SUNY
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
