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All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity

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Goethe and Marx, these are cardinal figures in the history of modernity. Goethe, the spiritual father of its grand visions and inexhaustible hope. Marx, the outsider, the witness to the sorcery of its soul and that of its organizing principle, Capital. His charge-- it is an artifice of progressively concentrating energy that will not be bound by any responsibility or shared purpose. The practical result is a constant breakdown of community and institutions as they are offered to the flame of re-invention. This is the core of the book's message. Nothing is permanent in the modernist domain. Art, city, ideals, country-- all are subsumed into new solids that immediately fracture and evaporate under pressure of another oncoming order, crashing in with waves of reorganization. The technologies of its own genius are its tools. The post-structural epoch is merely another phase of modernism's relentless push to incinerate the old and recreate society in its own frenzied image. Iconoclasm becomes the coordinating edict. The erasure of all cultural memory is implicit; moral purpose is desanctified; Capital's own ethos is elevated to the realm of faith.

Berman moves from the literary and intellectual movements of France and Russia into the streets. The building of St. Petersburg, with its imposed occidental face on Russia's traditionally oriental sensibilities, the boulevards of Paris's reconstruction of the 1870's, and the highways of the irrepressible Robert Moses-- the urban landscape has chronicled modernism's advance. The breadth of this thesis in choosing such disparate symbols to exemplify the progression is impressive, as is Berman's ability to synthesize them. When the book was written twenty years ago Communism had not yet collapsed, but its moral failure was evident, its material demise imminent. Berman's more romantic notions of a merging of modernism and Marxism, harnessing the creative impulse to popularly reasoned objectives, might have passed from any realistic possibility. His relationship with both is clearly one of fascination and alienation. All that seems to have gone down in flames, in annihilating contradictions, and, in the infinite actualization of modernism's belief in itself. It will tolerate no governance. A persistent anti- modernist insurgency, fragmented and cleaved onto disparate political structures, provides a cowed conscience at best. But with its illimitable dominion seemingly secure, Berman's proposal is thought provoking indeed-- that all of Marx's characterizations of its nature are true, and that no sustainable alternative has yet been conceived.

I first bought this book on a whim during my political science college days, but found great enjoyment and lasting insights. It's been a regular re-read on my shelf for the last 15 years. Most of all, the book unveils the themes of innovation, turmoil and renewal that are the hallmark of the last few hundred years. I came to realize, reading Berman's reviews of Marx', Goethe's and others writing that we have become so embedded in constantly changing times that we have accepted all its characteristics without question. I now think much more carefully about what precepts of being 'busy', acquiring luxury items, altering my personality for business/social situations, etc are worthwhile. ...OK, this sounds too deep for many but the book is written with inspiration, is enjoyable and gives people something important to think about.

I read this book a long time ago in college for a lit crit class. While admittedly I don't recall much detail of it, I do remember that it was one of few books I read in that class and many other lit crit classes that was lucid, cogent and clear in its argument and analysis. As a testament to its merit, it has remained on my bookshelf after all the others have been sold off to used bookstores. Moreover, it gave me one of the key insights about modernity that have remained with me to this day, and which has been useful in understanding why certain anti-modern societies resist modernization and why our contemporary society is so schizophrenic. That insight is that no tradition, which inherently protects realms of privilege, can be maintained in the face of the onslaught of the profit-driven motive underlying capitalism, which will always seek out new markets to exploit, such as the unexploited market as protected by tradition.

I have known the book by reputation in several texts of urban sociology. The book, however, is much more than most writers have implied. The profound knowledge of Berman about European cultural history is admirable and helpful for getting a deeper understanding of the development of ideas of modern.

Un libro apasionado y lúcido sobre el mundo moderno. Una experiencia deslumbrante sobre la cultura de nuestro tiempo y una explicación tan emotiva como erudita de nuestra condicion de vida actual y de cómo ésta fue posible.

Read the book if you want a broad approach to modernism. One should enter the first pages of this book with some understanding of a dialectical approach, though they need not be read in Hegel. Most importantly one should have read Marx --Tucker has a good companion that will suffice as a primer. Some familiarity of the Faust stories --preferably with main understanding regarding the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe work, though Berman is not exclusive however he does work the reader through alternative instantiations. Baudelaire may prove the most inaccessible chapter for most --be aware that the focus here is not on Flowers of Evil, but on some of the essay works.

This is a short book that may be difficult for some who are not well read. It is worth the time to do some pre-reading to fill in the book and enable the reader to engage Berman's claims, rather than read and nod at his assertions.

Berman's work is brilliant on two levels: the breadth of his scholarship and interest and his excellent writing skills. What is so refreshing is his ability to draw together such disparate subjects and themes in this text. I read this along with a few friends and both were truly engaged and enthusiastic about it for the same reasons. It is so pleasant to read someone speaking about ideology who has a distance from it which allows real criticism, rather than the intellectually simple, obligatory scolding for its failings. I do not want to write an extensive, verbose review, others will suffice. Read the book and investigate his others.

Berman weaves an intricate tale of Marxism and modernism. His text leaves out what I feel are important views and experiences, specifically gender, but despite this his work is thought provoking and valuable in understanding Marx's project.

this is one of the best sociologic studies of this centur

Is book is basically a compilation of other peoples writings with bits of the authors commentary sandwitched between them. Little to no insight. If you want to learn about modernity this book is not for you. If you've already read the work by the other authors this book sites, then purchasing and reading this book will be a waste of money and time for you. I recommend going to a library and picking up this book if you can. Because when I was reading this book I was like "damn what a waste of money". Well anyway, its not a stand alone book, rather it is supported by the works of other authors and if youre not familiar with their work then you sure wont understand the conclusion the author makes. Those other authors are old school sociologists whose literature is a mix of sociology, creative story telling, philosophy, and social commentary. From a more modern sociological standpoint, I really do not have the tolerance for it, but even if you do if this is the first book you plan to read about the subject of modernity then youre wasting you time.