Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s [Paperback]

Otto Friedrich (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0060926791 | ISBN-13: 978-0060926793 | Publication Date: October 13, 1995 | Edition: 1st ptg.

A fascinating portrait of the turbulent political, social, and cultural life of the city of Berlin in the 1920s.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Otto Friedrich, born in 1929 in Boston, majored in history at Harvard, where he received a degree magna cum laude in 1948. He went to Europe and worked for the Stars & Stripes in Germany and United Press in Paris and London. Returning to New York, he served as an editor at the Daily News, Newsweek, and the Saturday Evening Post. He was managing editor at the Post from 1965 until the magazine's suspension in 1969. Friedrich's account of the Post's last years, Decline and Fall, appeared in 1970 and was hailed as `a classic of American journalism.' It won the George Polk Award as that year's best book on the press. Among his other books are Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (1972); Going Crazy: A Personal Inquiry (1976); The End of the World: A History (1982); City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (1986); Glenn Gould. A Life and Variations (1990); Olympia. Paris in the Age of Manet (1992); and The Kingdom of Auschwitz (1994). Friedrich also wrote two novels and, in collaboration with his wife, nine children's books.

From The Washington Post

"What a story...in a class with the best of Barbara Tuchman....He has written a splendid book."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1st ptg. edition (October 13, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060926791
• ISBN-13: 978-0060926793
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it, read it, learn from it, January 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (Paperback)

I borrowed this book from a friend. Now I am buying it. This is one of the few history books which can grab your emotion and takes it on a roller coaster ride. Even though I know how it is going to turn out, somehow I hoped for a different ending throughout the book. You are taken on a journey to pre-WWII Germany and find out the social context which gave birth to the Nazi movement. The trauma of WWI gave rise to undirected violence. That trauma also gave birth to the Dada movement. That same trauma is also expressed in the younger generation who grew up to be SS storm troopers and caretakers of the death camps. The same thing might happen anywhere, anywhen in the world. That is the sobering part.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Those Interested in German History, April 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (Paperback)

Before the Deluge is a wonderful, compelling social history of Berlin between the wars. It explores the fascinating social, cultural, and scientific developments in Berlin as the political drama of Nazism plays out in the background. In these pages you will meet some of the 20th century's greatest politicians, artists, filmmakers, scientists, etc. who meet in the crossroads of Central Europe. Where else can you get Karajan, Einstein, Isherwood, Hitler, Weil, Garbo, and Lang in the same book........And, if you like this book, also try Olympia: Paris in the Age of Manet or City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's - both by Friedrich: both of them are equally good.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fragmented Time, October 20, 2007

By 

J. Dilworth "Voracious Reader" (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (Paperback)

I've read many books this about Germany and Berlin during the Weimar Republic period and this is one of the best one and a great introduction to the subject and time period. Even with the study I've done on Weimar, I learnt many things from with great book. It starts in 1918, at the very end of the First World War and the fall of the German Empire and ends as Hitler and his gang of thugs and bullies took over Germany. Along the way, Friedrich episodically talks about many interesting characters who lived during the period as well as science, crime, art, literature, music, film, drama social movements and lots of things that made up the period. Many people slam the book for being fragmented and episodic- I think it fits the time period and the fragmented nature of what happened. The only complaint I have is the rather sparse pictures in the book, that are reused for the cover art on both the paperback and hardback- with the very rich subject, better pictures could have been used. Get the hardback too since in the front and end papers there is a map of Berlin and its suburbs which helps to situate the landscape of the book. Highly recommended.