Paisajes urbanos de la modernidad
La vida cultural del automóvil
Exploraciones críticas
Rutas de la modernidad cinética
Original title: Cityscapes of Modernity. Critical Explorations David Frisby Translated into Spanish by Lilia Mosconi isbn 978-987-558-125-8 2007 | 336 p. | 520 g $ 45 | usd 12,01
The most ambitious goal of this book is to explain how social theory of modernity is connected with the construction and experience of the modern metropolis. Drawing on a wide array of contrasting dimensions in urban experience, David Frisby discusses the city as an observed, detected, interpreted, compared, designed, dissolved, and rationalized subject. Thus, he examines Benjamin’s account of the flaneur, the detective’s representation and vision of the city in archive material from the legendary Pinkerton National Detective Agency; Simmel’s interpretation of Berlin; Werner Sombart’s contrasting views of cultural Vienna and Americanized Berlin; Otto Wagner’s design work for a New Vienna and Martin Wagner’s plans for a New Berlin; and the points of contact between Expressionism and social theory in their outlook on cities.
58 | las ciudades y las ideas
[The Cultural Life of the Automobile. Roads to Kinetic Modernity] Guillermo Giucci isbn 978-987-558-123-4 2007 | 240 p. | illus. | 360 g $ 42 | usd 11,21
Is it possible to draw a picture of the 20th Century and our times without cars? Ever since it started to roll around Europe in the late-19th Century, the automobile has traveled the world, it has conquered most cities, and it has become an essential part of our daily lives. This book examines the rise of automobility as a key element in the emergence of kinetic modernity between 1900 and 1940. The automobile has had an enormous impact on industrial work organization, as well as social and urban life patterns. As a powerful epitome of the 20th Century, it has made a defining contribution to strengthening the widespread scientific and technological revolution still in course. It is for those reasons that the car has inflamed the imagination of 20th Century society.
La red austral Obras y proyectos de Le Corbusier y sus discípulos en la Argentina (1924-1965) [The Southern Network. Works and Projects by Le Corbusier and his Disciples in Argentina (1924-1965)] Jorge Francisco Liernur Pablo Pschepiurca isbn 978-987-558-157-9 2008 | 432 p. | illus. | 660 g $ 60 | usd 16,02
Le Corbusier had a long, fruitful, and sometimes rough relationship with Argentina. Although this great architect is the main character here, this book is not a biography. Rather than narrating his experience or describing his disciples’ careers in Argentina, this volume focuses on a number of projects, works, and actions which have been determined by a sort of network created among them. Thus, La red austral can be read as a tale of spies, since all characters know each other, but they will never know everything about each other.