Life among the Ruins: Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin (Genders and Sexualities in History) - Softcover

Evans, J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0230202020 ISBN 13: 9780230202023

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Synopsis

As home to 1920s excess and Hitler's Final Solution, Berlin's physical and symbolic landscape was an important staging ground for the highs and lows of modernity. In Cold War Berlin, social and political boundaries were porous, and the rubble gave refuge to a re-emerging gay and lesbian scene, youth gangs, prostitutes, hoods, and hustlers.

About this title

About the Author

JENNIFER V. EVANS is Associate Professor of History at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She teaches a variety of courses in 20th century German history, while her primary area of research is the history of sexuality. She has written about the regulation of same-sex sexuality in Cold War Germany, pink triangle victims during and after the Holocaust, and queer erotic photography as a form of self-narration.

Review

"In this excellent and pathbreaking monograph Evans sets a new benchmarkfor studies of Cold War Berlin. Hers will be a tough act to follow." - Mark Fenemore, American Historical Review.

"From mothers sheltering in bunkers, children playing in the ruins, andrent boys plying their trade at train stations, to teenagers courting at the Wannsee, Jennifer Evans brings the experiences of Berliners alive.This is a fascinating book, which should be read by all those with aninterest in the social history of the early Cold War." - JosieMcLellan, University of Bristol

"A compelling and imaginative experiment in joining the history of urban space with the histories of social deviance and culturalreconstruction, Evans' book provides a richly detailed portrait of aradically dislocated world." - Dagmar Herzog, author of Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History

"Evans's analysis of the available visual material proves to be innovative and illuminating." - Malte Zierenberg, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

"Greatly aided by her eloquent storytelling, the book reaches out across disciplines and appeals not only to historians of postwar Germany but also to geographers as well as scholars of film, literature, and gender studies." - Yuliya Komska, Dartmouth College, United States

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0230202020
• ISBN 13: 9780230202023
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 331