Synopses & Reviews
Peter Gay's most ambitious endeavor since Freud explores the shocking modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film with its assault on traditional forms. Beginning his epic study with Baudelaire, whose lurid poetry scandalized French stalwarts, Gay traces the revolutionary path of modernism from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement in world capitals such as Berlin and New York. A work unique in its breadth and brilliance, Modernismpresents a thrilling pageant of heretics that includes (among others) Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, and D. W. Griffiths; James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot; Walter Gropius, Arnold Schoenberg, and (of course!) Andy Warhol. Finally, Gay examines the hostility of totalitarian regimes to modernist freedom and the role of Pop Art in sounding the death knell of a movement that dominated Western culture for 120 years. Lavishly illustrated, Modernismis a superlative achievement by one of our greatest historians.
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"It's done so gracefully, and engagingly, that even as I raced to finish before our interview, I couldn't make myself skim." Katie Bolick
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A masterful work of cultural history . . . and it’s truly a pleasure to read. --Mia Fineman
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A sweeping survey . . . offering shrewd analyses. --William Grimes
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Peter Gay is perhaps our leading historian of culture and ideas. --Tim Rutten
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An ambitious survey . . . [by] a superior popularizer. --Michael Dirda
Synopsis
Gays ambitious endeavor looks at the modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film. Beginning his epic study with Baudelaire, Gay traces the revolutionary path from its Parisian origins to its emergence as the dominant cultural movement. Illustrated.
Synopsis
"Rich, learned, briskly written, maddening yet necessary study."--Lee Siegel,
Synopsis
Peter Gay explores the shocking modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film. Modernism presents a thrilling pageant of heretics that includes Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso, D. W. Griffiths, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Walter Gropius, Arnold Schoenberg, and (of course!) Andy Warhol.
Synopsis
'Rich, learned, briskly written, maddening yet necessary study."Lee Siegel, New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A celebration of subversives: the first one-volume history of the greatest cultural movement since the Enlightenment.
About the Author
Peter Gay (1923--2015) was the author of more than twenty-five books, including the National Book Award winner The Enlightenment, the best-selling Weimar Culture, and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time.