{"product_id":"kracauer-a-biography-hardback-9781509533015","title":"Kracauer; A Biography (Hardback) 9781509533015","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eKracauer\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Biography\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJörg Später (Author), Daniel Steuer (Translated by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509533015, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 24 July 2020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e600 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.1 x 15 x 5.1 cm, 1.021 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“An impressive biography: accurate, fluent, displaying thorough knowledge and independent judgement, this is the first book to do justice to Kracauer.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Später avoids simple description and banal interpretations and surprises the reader with careful, considered judgements, thus demonstrating what a biographer should fundamentally be: a courageous historian.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eThomas Meyer, \u003ci\u003eSüddeutsche Zeitung\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With his gorgeously written social biography of an allegedly marginal figure of Critical Theory, Siegfried Kracauer, historian Jörg Später delivers an epistemological perspective that allows the reader to grasp the world through its minutiae.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Dan Diner, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"It is a refreshing sign of modesty that Jörg Später calls his study on the life and work of Siegfried Kracauer only a biography. What Später instead does in this masterfully written book is to reconstruct the intellectual trajectory of a thinker who, despite all personal and historical difficulties, was able to create by combining observational skills, sociological knowledge and philosophical profundity one of the most original oeuvres within the tradition of Critical Theory. Thanks to the author of this intellectual biography, Kracauer steps out of the long shadow of the Frankfurt School and becomes a critical theorist in his own right.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Axel Honneth, Columbia University\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Später’s book . . . will be the definitive biography of Kracauer for many years to come.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Jewish Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e “magnificent”\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eJewish Currents\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘a very sound and well-constructed… life-story. And Kracauer's really was quite a fascinating life.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Complete Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“It is a book that already assumes a fairly complete grasp of the intellectual parameters within which they worked.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRuben David-Hillel\u003ci\u003e, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of London\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSiegfried Kracauer was one of the most important German thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings on Weimar culture, mass society, photography and film were groundbreaking and they anticipated many of the themes later developed members of the Frankfurt School and other cultural theorists.   \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e No less remarkable were the circumstances under which he made these contributions. After his early years as a journalist in Germany, the rise of the Nazis forced Kracauer into exile – first in Paris and then, after a protracted flight via Marseilles and Lisbon, to the United States. The existential challenges, personal losses and unrelenting hardship Kracauer faced during these years of exile formed the backdrop against which he offered his acute observations of modern life. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Jörg Später provides the first comprehensive biography of this extraordinary man. Based on extensive archival research, Später’s biography expertly traces the key influences on Kracauer’s intellectual development and presents his most important works and ideas with great clarity.  At the same time, Später ably documents the intensity of Kracauer’s personal relationships, the trauma of his flight and exile, and his embrace of his new homeland, where, finally, the ‘groundlessness’ of refugee existence gave way to a more stable life and, with it, some of the intellectually most fruitful years of Kracauer’s career.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The result is a vivid portrait of a man driven both by an urge to capture reality – to attend to the things that are ‘overlooked or misjudged’, that still ‘lack a name’, as he put it – and by a need to find his place in a hostile, threatening world.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eTable of Contents\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgements\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1. Siegfried Kracauer – A Life\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 2. Early Things: Before 1918\u003cbr\u003e 3. Revolution, the Frankfurter Zeitung and Cultural Criticism around 1920\u003cbr\u003e 4. Friendship (Part 1): The Jewish Renaissance in Frankfurt\u003cbr\u003e 5. Friendship (Part 2): The One Who Waits\u003cbr\u003e 6. The Crisis of the Sciences, Sociology and the Sphere Theory \u003cbr\u003e 7. Friendship (Part Three): Passion and the Path towards the Profane\u003cbr\u003e 8. The Rebirth of Marxism in Philosophy\u003cbr\u003e 9. Kracauer Goes to the Movies: \u003cbr\u003e A Medium for the Masses and A Medium for Modernity\u003cbr\u003e 10. At the Feuilleton of the Frankfurter Zeitung\u003cbr\u003e 11. Inflation and Journeys into Porosity\u003cbr\u003e 12. Transitional Years: Economic Upturn, Revolt, Enlightenment\u003cbr\u003e 13. The Primacy of the Optical: Architecture, Images of Space, Films\u003cbr\u003e 14. Ginster, Georg and the Salaried Masses\u003cbr\u003e 15. The Idea as Bearer of the Group: The Philosophical Quartet\u003cbr\u003e 16. Berlin circa 1930: In the Midst of the Political Melee\u003cbr\u003e 17. The Trial\u003cbr\u003e 18. Europe on the Move: Refugees in France\u003cbr\u003e 19. The Liquidation of German Matters\u003cbr\u003e 20. Two Views on the Second Empire: Offenbach and the Arcades\u003cbr\u003e 21. The Disintegration of the Group\u003cbr\u003e 22. Songs of Woe from Frankfurt\u003cbr\u003e 23. La Vie Parisienne\u003cbr\u003e 24. The ‘Institute for Social Falsification’\u003cbr\u003e 25. Vanishing Point: America\u003cbr\u003e 26. Fleeing from France, a Last Minute Exit to Lisbon\u003cbr\u003e 27. Arrival in New York\u003cbr\u003e 28. Define Your Enemy: What is National Socialism?\u003cbr\u003e 29. Know Your Enemy: Psychological Warfare\u003cbr\u003e 30. Fear Your Enemy: Deportation and Killing of the Jews\u003cbr\u003e 31. Fuck Your Enemy: From Hitler to Caligari\u003cbr\u003e 32. Cultural Critic, Social Scientist, Supplicant\u003cbr\u003e 33. The Aesthetics of Film as Cultural Studies\u003cbr\u003e 34. Two Boxes from Paris\u003cbr\u003e 35. Working as a Consultant in the Social Sciences and Humanities\u003cbr\u003e 36. Mail from Germany, Letters from the Past, Travels in Europe\u003cbr\u003e 37. The Practice of Film Theory and the Theory of Film\u003cbr\u003e 38. Talks with Teddie and Old Friends\u003cbr\u003e 39. Time for the Things before the Last\u003cbr\u003e 40. After Kracauer’s Death\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Photo Credits\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Philosophy [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Philosophy\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Philosophy%20%5BHP%5D%22\"\u003eHP\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52165883789592,"sku":"9781509533015","price":15.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509533015.jpg?v=1781101385","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/kracauer-a-biography-hardback-9781509533015","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}