The book contains three stories, all set in Vienna. The third story is about the strange love pact of a painter and his model in the past and another strange pact (but not really a love pact this time) of another painter and her model at present. Although the first two stories do not tell us such an interesting, disturbing and misterious tale like the third one, Steven Kelly's use of the language makes it a pleasure to read.

All the heroes (if that would be the word...) are just ordinary people with nothing very special about them. On the other hand, they all have interesting personalities with their own obsessions and fears, and the author's easy-going way of telling the story makes you feel like you are among them and living through their lives.

At last the guide Vienna deserves! Not only full of informations about museums opening hours and location of tourist office or railway stations, but a real literary content for a cultural capital. The visitor needs such a focus on the rich and tumultuous history of the former habsburger city to enjoy her treasures. The michelin's touch gives you more : details, genealogy of each famous curiosity and a precious introduction to the viennese "art de vivre" that allows you to feel as an insider of this astonishing city. A good way for a successful journey. But it's really a pity you can't find any hotel and restaurant in this book. Why the hell Michelin does not give this information. Do they believe it is a good way to sell more "red guides" : they should at least give a kind of short list of "hotels de charme"

This book is one of a handful that have appeared in the years since the Montreal Protocol that have addressed the motivations behind those that acted to bring the protocol into being. It questions the simple thesis that it was simply an attempt to introduce environmental protection for one of the Earths damaged resources, suggesting instead that the primary motivation was more economically defined. the primary actors each had something to be gained in seeing a ban on CFC's in favour of their (generally more expensive) alternative. In this regard it presents a mass of evidence that might come as a surprise to those who believed that the treaty was a hopeful first step towards international agreements to benefit the Earth's environment, and it is a surprise that is unlikely to be a pleasant one. It does no-one any good to hide from the truth however, and the volume is thus a worthwhile read, as well as a useful pointer towards further reading around this area.

This book is sub-titled "Experiment in Working-Class Culture. The book deals with the Austrian Social Democratic rule of the city government of Vienna, Austria from the 1919 downfall of the Habsburg Dynasty until 1934 when the Anschluss made Austria part of Nazi Germany.

The city government of Vienna tried a number of reforms at this time to raise the standard of living of the people of the City. Some of these included public housing and public health education. These reforms were really no more "socialistic" than the New Deal legislation. However, the reforms were characterized as socialistic and thus the name of the book--Red Vienna.

Interesting to watch in the book is the sudden transformation of political scene with the rise of Hitler in Germany. Prior to 1933 when Germany was still known as the Weimer Republic, the Social Democratic Party advocated annexation with Germany. In this the Social Democrats were bitterly opposed by the conservative Austrian "nationalists of the rural areas of Austria. However, with the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1933, these "nationalists" suddenly changed their tune and suddenly became very enthusiastic about annexation with Germany. These rural nationalist were the main group that collaborated with the German Nazis in the Anschulss of 1934--ala Kurt Waldheim. Only a small core of rural nationalist group remained true to their nationalist position--ala Captain Von Trapp, whose story is told in the movie--Sound of Music.

"And don't forget our murderers!" These words from a Jewish woman about to be killed by Nazi soldiers were a battle cry to Simon Wiesenthal. After his miraculous survival of the death camps, he dedicated his life to tracking down war criminals. At times his ego and love of publicity undermined him; other times it was these traits plus his singleminded determination that resulted in successful findings and prosecutions. Altman does not use a dry textbook style but writes almost in novel form with chapters subdivided by catchy headings. There are boxed features on some of the more notorious, along with victims and others, black and white photographs, notes, bibliography, and index.

The author traces the history of the Jewish Community of Vienna. This is a well written history that captures the reader like a novel. Once started it is hard to put it down. The author traces the history of the Jews of Vienna from a vibrant cultural society to a persecuted victim of the Austrian Nazis. His analysis of the Vienna population and there participation in the Holocaust is a story that is not often told. The author contrasts the Austrian response to Nazism with that of the German populace at large.

Wood has done a fantastic job of assembling a representative group of texts that documents the emergence and impact of a relatively obscure school of art historical research. But its obscurity, thankfully, is now a thing of the past.

What makes this material so fascinating is that wrapped up in an academic debate one would normally consider to be a dry and remote subject - art historical methodology - are enormously important philosophical and political issues that are just as vital today as when the debate originally took place (the 1930s).

Wood does an absolutely singular job of delineating the cast of characters, setting the stage and describing the plot. To his great credit, he has also selected essays for translation, many of which appear for the first time in English, that illustrate the issues in compelling ways. One only wishes that more could have been incorporated - especially translations of Hans Sedlmayr's 1929 introduction to Riegl's Collected Essays, his 1925 piece on "Shaped Vision," and Otto Pächt's article on Michael Pacher.

What Wood demonstrates is that continuing interest in the Vienna School of Art History, and its primary protagonist Alois Riegl (three of whose main books were finally translated into English nearly a century after their original publication), constitutes a curious demand for more translations of these vivid, multivalent texts after decades of relative neglect.

I must confess that Wood does not see the full range of political issues imbedded within these writings. This is somewhat odd, because in a previously edited volume on Otto Pächt's own art historical methods in which these issues are brought right to the surface, Wood avoided a thorough discussion as well. Perhaps he is uncomfortable with this material, or perhaps he is simply "politically tone deaf." All interpretation is through the typically Leftist academic lens, but not surprisingly, the material is far too nuanced for so puerile an instrument. In short, much remains to be said about this material, and why it still fascinates modern collectivists on the political Left.

Read it yourself and see if you agree. You will not regret the time spent. If you are an art history "buff," student or professor, this is simply MUST reading.

Ernst Rodin's "War and Mayhem" is a must-read for students of the Holocaust and for anyone interested in understanding how Adolf Hitler managed to captivate and ultimately cripple Germany in the period between 1933 and 1945.

Rodin is a mischling, or "impure" Austrian, who nevertheless gets drafted into the Wehrmacht. In "War and Mayhem," he looks back on his life and offers us two points of view that are skillfully woven together: an eyewitness account of what it was like to be a young man growing up in Vienna during Hitler's rise to power; and an analysis of the most cataclysmic period in modern history from the perspective of an adult survivor.

Rodin's book is accessible and engaging. We follow young Ernst to school, a place he has little use for in his younger years, and to the summer swimming parks that he and his older brother sneak into because they cannot afford admission. We suffer along with him as he loses his biological father, a "ne'er-do-well" who abandons the family, and we hope, in vain, that his mother's second husband will somehow fill the void left by his biological father.

At the same time, Rodin, a retired neurologist, now living in Utah, offers us an adult perspective on how the day-to-day events of his childhood were being played out against a much larger and unsettling screen. He captures the flavor of pre-war Vienna and offers unique insight into factors that contributed to the latent, simmering anti-Semitism of the era, anti-Semitism that boiled over so viciously after Hitler came into power. Rodin is careful to explain historical factors that led to the Anschluss and includes valuable information about Austrian clergy and politicians, whose roles in the 30's and 40's have not been well-detailed in other books written about this time period.

As an avid reader of World War II-era non-fiction, I've read books written by Jewish authors, Christian authors, American authors, German authors. What intrigues me about "War and Mayhem" is Ernst Rodin's distinctive point of view. Rodin fought in the Werhmacht, yet was considered "less than German" because his maternal grandfather was Jewish. He suffered from anti-Semitism at school but is quite candid in his observations about how Jews in Vienna were easily targeted for mistreatment because they did little to embrace the community at large. His tone is straightforward, always honest, always enlightening.

I recommend Ernst Rodin's "War and Mayhem" to every historian and layperson interested in reading a first-rate account of life in Vienna before and immediately after World War II. Rodin's final assessment of the events he witnessed deserves our immediate and collective attention: given the right conditions, history could easily repeat itself.

This book is a follow-up to Janik and Toulmin's earlier study, "Wittgenstein's Vienna". Unlike the earlier book, this book consists of a series of essays which are loosely connected by some transitional passages and melded into a book. In spite of its somewhat patchwork character, this book is a good study of Vienna and the influence of its writers, psychologists, and composers on Wittgenstein. A major goal of the book is to place Wittgenstein's thought in the context of European culture and thought rather than seeimg him solely within the context of the English (and American) analytical philosophy which he influenced profoundly.

Of the twelve chapters in the book, the first six have little to do with an analysis of Wittgenstein's thought. Rather they consist of expositions of certain turn-of-the century Viennese thinkers. Chief of these, and probably the most fascinating figure in the book is Otto Weininger who wrote a book called "Sex and Character" at the age of 23 just before his suicide. Weininger is known as an influence on Wittgenstein. He is also remembered, when he is thought of at all, for his anti-feminism and anti-semitism. Janik attempts to capture something of the complexity of Weininger's thought by placing him in the Kantian tradition and as a practitioner of what Janik terms "critical modernism."

There are also good discussions in the first half of the book of Arnold Schoenberg and, surprisingly to me Jacques Offenbach. These composers are juxtaposed with Weininger for their critical, deflatonary tendency in art and thought. They are presented as challenging the tendencies of turn-of-century Vienna towards an entertainment, theatrical culture -- shades of the present.

The second half of the book deals more directly with Wittgenstein. It discusses the thought of the logical positivists, of the philosopher of science Hertz, the satirist Karl Kraus (the focus of the earlier "Wittgenstein's Vienna), Freud, and the Viennese poet Trakl. Here again, Janik does not analyze Wittgenstein's thought in detail. Instead, he takes certain broad themes suggested by Wittgenstein such as the distinction between saying and showing, "the mystical", the nature of religous experience, and the living of the everyday and shows possible sources of these themes in the thinkers he examines. The material is interesting and valuable, probably more for the light it casts on the thinkers Janik discusses than for the light it casts on Wittgenstein.

This is a good, difficult book about an important creative period in the early 20th Century and about an important and difficult 20th Century philosopher.

Ouch. This is a case where all the main ingredients necessary for a solid book - a combination of interesting premise, characters, plot and setting along with an obviously intelligent author - seem to be in place, yet the result is hardly worth a reader's time. In particular, the main shortcomings of Vienna Blood are:

1) The author's stilted writing style. Mathews' choice of words seems entirely at odds with the story he is trying to tell, and serves only to annoy the reader.

2) Poor use of Vienna as the novel's setting. The description of the city often consists of little more than place-name-dropping (This, incidentally, is often marred by typographical errors, especially in the second half of the book, when it seems as if the editors have also lost interest. Actually, this is too bad, since Mathews' writing definitely improves as the Vienna Blood goes on). To this he adds rehashes of old quotations about the Viennese mentality. It is hard to shake the impression that the author does not know the city as intimately as he would like to have the reader believe.

3) The lack of a credible futuristic atmosphere. Certainly, there are all sorts of techno-gadgets and glimpses of life in 2026-27, but nearly all of the cultural references made by Vienna Blood's characters are to people, places and events of the 20th century. These characters, therefore, come across as likely inhabitants of the present day, not the 2020s, destroying whatever suspension of disbelief has been built up.

Unfortunately, these shortcomings are rather major, making it impossible to recommend Vienna Blood. While not a complete disaster, there are far better and more satisfying ways to spend an evening.

The characters and plot didn't compel me to get more than 1/4 of the way into the book. While the tone of the novel is cyber-punkish or noir-ish, that alone wasn't enough to keep me going.

In his article, Ethnographic Critique and Technoscientific Narratives: The old mole, ethical plateaux, and the governance of emergent biosocial polities, in Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry (25: 355-93. 2001)Michael M.J. Fischer uses this book as a juxtaposition to ethnographic descriptions of bio-ethical realties. It's rather interesting and may possibly add some insight into the novel