Dimensions
162 x 240 x 41mm
What do we think of when we think about Eastern Europe? Stalinism and the Stasi, maybe, or the grey and chilling landscape of cold-war espionage. Contemporary accounts focus on the sex industry, stag parties, and immigration. Our views of its architecture and cities can be similarly unflattering: 'Soviet' and 'Eastern Bloc' are commonly used as pejoratives for anything large and made of concrete.
Yet, as acclaimed cultural commentator Owen Hatherley shows, the region's architecture tells the story of two of the 20th century's most wide-ranging political experiments: full-scale socialism post-1945 and, after 1989, neo-liberal capitalism. Hatherley travels through the region's immense boulevards, monumental, windswept squares and crumbling apartment blocks, exploring the original ideals behind their creation and asking what we can learn from them today.
From Warsaw to Berlin, Kiev to Moscow, this is a passionate journey in search of the true meaning of cities and the ways in which they reflect our values and shape our lives.
