Product Description
In 1949 Bavaria was not only the largest and best known, but also the poorest, most agricultural, and most industrially backward region of Germany. It was further its most politically conservative region. The largest political party in Bavaria was the Christian Social Union (CSU), an extremely conservative, even reactionary, regional party. In the ensuing twenty years, the leaders of the CSU's small liberal wing (in particular Franz Josef Strauss, long-time party chair and the most colorful and polarizing politician in postwar Germany) broke with the anti-industrial traditions of Bavarian Catholic politics and made themselves useful to industry. With tactical brilliance the politicians pursued their individual political ambitions, rather than a coherent modernization strategy, which, nevertheless, by 1969 had turned Bavaria into a prosperous Land, the center of Germany's new aerospace, defense, and energy industries, with a disproportionate share of its research institutes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Urban tribe
It is amazing how much complexity can exist in a small group of people. This book is a testament to that. Sciama took on the task of analysing not even just the city of Venice, but one of its many islands, Burano.She chose it because of the varying threads that make up its inhabitants. Many parts of the book reveal it as very village-like. Possessing a distinct sense of identity, rooted in no small wise by many families having lived there for generations. To an American reader, unless you grew up in someplace like New Mexico, in one of the old families there, that can trace ancestry back 10 generations, this may be the most distinct and different aspect of the book. But unlike a real village, Burano has no large separation from its neighbours. It is part of a city and its hinterland.

Sciama takes us through this tension, to see what might be considered an urban tribe. Readers may well see similarities between Burano and groups with cities they live in. In the US, there are aspects like those of an undergraduate experience, in a campus with fraternaties and sororities. ... Read more

Product Description
A translation of the only biography ever published of Josef Strauss, second of the Strauss brothers, who played a major role in the development of the waltz as a musical form.It is written by an internationally acknowledged expert on the Strauss family, and gives the story of the personal and professional triumphs and tragedies of the composer, also describing the whole Strauss family and the elegant way of life in nineteenth-century Vienna. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The secret behind of the Strauss Family music business.
Wonderful book containing the real reason the Strauss Family was able to success with their Waltz business:The un-questioning resolve of Josef!

The book leaves you wondering how much Josef would haveaccomplished, how great his music would have become if he had lived longerthan his 42 years. ... Read more