May

17

Vienna

May 17, 2024 |

Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World, by Richard Crockett.

Viennese ideas saturate the modern world. From California architecture to Hollywood Westerns, modern advertising to shopping malls, orgasms to gender confirmation surgery, nuclear fission to fitted kitchens—every aspect of our history, science, and culture is in some way shaped by Vienna.

The city of Freud, Wittgenstein, Mahler, and Klimt was the melting pot at the heart of a vast metropolitan empire. But with the Second World War and the rise of fascism, the dazzling coteries of thinkers who squabbled, debated, and called Vienna home dispersed across the world, where their ideas continued to have profound impact.

Humbert H. writes:

When I left the Soviet Union, Vienna was the first western city I saw. It's hard to imagine a bigger contrast. It was like moving from a garbage dump to an immaculately maintained dollhouse. My next stop was Italy, and in spite of being the most beautiful country in the world, IMO, Italy was a letdown after Vienna.

As for it's historical significance, it's huge, but this battle was one of the most important in the history of the world, and that's saying something (there have been a lot of battles).

Laurel Kenner suggests:

For a more detailed overview, I enjoyed The Austrian Mind.


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