"A revelatory history of the transformational decade after World War II when Germany raised itself out of the ashes of defeat, turned away from fascism, and reckoned with the corruption of its soul, and the horrors of the Holocaust"--
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'The most brilliant and fascinating book I have read in my entire life' Dan Snow 'A huge contribution... remarkable' Antony Beevor, BBC RADIO 4 'Extremely interesting ... a serious piece of scholarship, very well researched' Ian Kershaw The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping bestseller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940. The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants administered by the physician Dr Morell as the war turned against Germany. While drugs cannot on their own explain the events of the Second World War or its outcome, Ohler shows, they change our understanding of it. Blitzed forms a crucial missing piece of the story.
The reader is led through the process by which something unthinkable to any European in the 1930s had become a sprawling, industrial reality during the course of World War II, how Auschwitz grew and mutated into an entire dreadful city, how both those who managed it and those who were killed by it came to be in Poland in the 1940s, and how it was allowed to happen.
September 29th 1938. The day the fate of Czechoslovakia was sealed by the Munich Agreement. Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and - the phantom of Munich, Edouard Daladier, president of the French Council. Summer 1968. A mysterious American journalist, young, female, Czech in origin - lands on a small island in the Rhone river. Her mission is to find Edouard Daladier, who is widely believed to be dead and to persuade him, as the only living witness to the events of Munich to let her have access to his extraordinary archive and to tell her his secrets.Daladier is a recluse, obsessed with history and his part in it but the journalist succeeds in drawing from him the astonishing story of the betrayal of a nation. Scene by scene, hour by hour the reader accompanies Daladier from his departure to Munich to his triumphant, but ultimately tragic return to Paris. In Munich we sit with him and the other leaders at the negotiation table, at lunch, in and out of each other's seats, hotel rooms and cars. The tensions of the fateful day build up, the political twists and turns and the personal intensities are described with insight and humour. "The Ghost of Munich" has the sharpness of a film, the drama of tragedy and the truth of history. -- Publisher details.
The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But France's leading sociologist and cultural theorist shows that few cultural activities are more structured and systematic than photography.
Un livre aussi coloré et éclatant que l'été d'un siècle. L'histoire d'une année immense qui a marqué un siècle entier : 1913, l'année où notre présent a commencé. Florian Illies déploie avec virtuosité un panorama historique où la littérature, l'art et la musique explorent les extrêmes. Entre Paris, Moscou, Londres, Berlin et Venise, nous rencontrons de nombreux artistes dont l'œuvre a durablement façonné notre monde. On y consomme de la drogue, on boit, on hait, on aime et on maudit. Cette année semble tout possible, mais le brillant commencement cache un pressentiment de déclin. Déjà en 1913, la littérature, l'art et la musique savaient que l'humanité avait perdu son innocence. La Première Guerre mondiale ne ferait qu'accentuer les horreurs de tout ce qui avait été reconnu et pensé auparavant. Illies rend cette année, un moment de floraison maximale et en même temps un office du déclin, vivant dans un panorama grandiose. Malewitsch peint un carré, Proust cherche le temps perdu, Benn aime Lasker-Schüler, Rilke boit avec Freud, et Kafka, Joyce et Musil savourent un cappuccino à Trieste. À Munich, un peintre de cartes postales autrichien nommé Adolf Hitler vend ses vues de ville modestes. La construction du livre est fabuleuse, et les talents anecdotiques d'Illies ainsi que la caractérisation impressionnante des personnes et des situations offrent de nouvelles perspectives sur le connu.
Un grattement timide à la porte ; le bruit d'un objet posé sur le plancher : une voix furtive : " Il est cinq heures et demie! Le premier coup de la messe vient de sonner ..." Maigret fit grincer le sommier du lit en se soulevant sur les coudes et tandis qu'il regardait avec étonnement la lucarne percée dans le toit en pente, la voix reprit : " Est-ce que vous communiez? " Maintenant, le commissaire Maigret était debout, les pieds nus sur le plancher glacial. Il marcha vers la porte qui fermait à l'aide d'une ficelle enroulée à deux clous. Il y eut des pas qui fuyaient, et, quand il fut dans le couloir, il eut juste le temps d'apercevoir une silhouette de femme en camisole et en jupon blanc. Alors il ramassa le broc d'eau chaude que Marie Tatin lui avait apporté, ferma sa porte, chercha un bout de miroir devant lequel se raser
The sequel to "Love Life," this story explores themes of parental redemptive love.
Un récit qui traverse une France qui piétine ses traditions, banalise ses villes, détruit ses campagnes au bord de la révolte. Le narrateur raconte sa vie d'ingénieur agronome, son amitié pour un aristocrate agriculteur, l'échec des idéaux de leur jeunesse, l'espoir peut-être insensé de retrouver une femme perdue
Xenia Hausner is one of the most important Austrian painters of our time. This richly illustrated volume focuses on the aspect of staging that characterizes all her works. Beginning with her early pieces from the 1990s and culminating in the poignant Exiles series, the book transports readers into a feminine world filled with mysterious relationships. Hausner's painting is rooted in photography; the artist constructs spatial settings in her studio and captures a moment akin to a film still. Translated into painting, her images create a dramatic tension, suggesting that what is shown must lead to the next image to reveal its mysteries. Through the staged elements in her works—the painted captured lie—we encounter the contradictions of our existence and find an alternative to a male-dominated visual language.
