‘Beautifully conceived and marvellously researched. I haven’t read a better book on Berlin.’ Gordon A. Craig

In Berlin, history is tangible. The sense of the past – of Europe, of Germany, and of the 20th-century’s myths, depravities, idealism and horror – hangs in the air around the old Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. No other city has played such a part in the tides of 20th-century European affairs.

‘Faust’s Metropolis’ follows the rich and inspiring history of this city: from the revolutionary fervour of its teeming slums, the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, and the frantic modernism of Weimar to the brutality of the Nazis and the symbolic defeat of Communism as the Wall came down. Writing superbly of Berlin’s role as a crucible of change, Alexandra Richie reveals herself as an extraordinary new talent.