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1
Tante Jolesch or the Decline of the West in Anecdotes
by Friedrich Torberg & Maria Poglitsch Bauer (translator) -
2
The Road into the Open
by Arthur Schnitzler & Roger Byers (translator) -
3
The Radetzky March
by Joseph Roth & Michael Hofmann (translator) -
4
The World of Yesterday
by Stefan Zweig & Anthea Bell (translator) -
5
Last Waltz in Vienna
by George Clare
The best books on Jewish Vienna, recommended by Brigid Grauman
The best books on Jewish Vienna, recommended by Brigid Grauman
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Vienna had a vibrant intellectual and cultural life, embraced and at times led by key figures in its large Jewish community. All that would disappear with the rise of anti-Semitism and the Anschluss. Many Jews fled or committed suicide. Others were deported to concentration camps. After the war some went back, but Vienna would never be the same. Here Brigid Grauman, whose father’s family were assimilated Jews from Vienna, recommends books that evoke that poignant, tragic period that ended with World War II.
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1
City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn
by William J. Mitchell -
2
The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture: City, Technology and Society in the Information Age
by Federico Soriano, Fernando Porras, José Morales, Manuel Gausa, Vicente Guallart & Willy Müller -
3
Cities In Civilization
by Peter Hall -
4
The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers and the Future of Urban Life
by Carlo Ratti & Matthew Claudel -
5
Local Code: 3,659 Proposals about Data, Design and the Nature of Cities
by Nicholas de Monchaux
The best books on Future Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson
The best books on Future Cities, recommended by Davina Jackson
We are a city-dwelling species. Our urban existence creates both opportunities and challenges, as the recent pandemic has illustrated. One thing seems clear, however. Understanding the way we interact with our built environment is becoming an increasingly data-driven enterprise, as Davina Jackson argues compellingly in her book, Data Cities. Here, she shares the five books that best explain the technology behind the urban planning of the future.
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1
Down and Out in Paris and London
by George Orwell -
2
Journey to the End of the Night
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (translated by Ralph Manheim) -
3
Overhead in a Balloon
by Mavis Gallant -
4
The Belly of Paris
by Emile Zola (translated by Mark Kurlansky) -
5
Dictionnaire Historique des Rues de Paris
by Jacques Hillairet
The best books on Paris, recommended by David Downie
The best books on London Fog, recommended by Christine L. Corton
Christine L. Corton describes how Londoners loved and hated the fog that defined their city for over 200 years. Fog bought confusion, suicide and death; but also anonymity, mystery and beauty. Here, she picks the best five books on the pea-souper
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1
City of Refuge
by Tom Piazza -
2
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
by Douglas Brinkley -
3
Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City
by Jed Horne -
4
Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security
by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block -
5
New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape
by Peirce F. Lewis
The best books on Hurricane Katrina, recommended by Gary Rivlin
The Best San Francisco Novels, recommended by Armistead Maupin
The author of the Tales of the City novel series, Armistead Maupin, tells us about San Francisco’s spirit of place, and the books that best capture the city’s sense of possibility and noirish feel. He recommends the best novels set in San Francisco.
Fran Lebowitz on New York Writers
‘The authors of these five books are people who came to New York for freedom – not so they could get rich, but so they could be free to pursue their interests and live their lives the way they wanted.’ New Yorker par excellence Fran Lebowitz recommends the writers who best capture her immutably mutable city.