Architecture and Politics in Germany: 1918-1945 [Book Review]

The precise relationships between ideology and cultural policies is a topic of interest to any philosopher concerned with culture. In this fascinating study, the author explores the background of Nazi ideology and policies concerning architecture. Lane persuasively shows how Nazi policies were influenced and inherited from the ideological disputes that surrounded "modern" tendencies in architecture during the Weimar period, especially those disputes concerning the Bauhaus. She also traces the devious paths whereby the social significance of architecture became an issue of national concern in Germany. In the course of the analysis, we not only have a detailed study of architecture and ideology during this crucial period in German history, but a paradigm for intellectual history at its best.--R. J. B.