The Golden Age of Vienna. 1948. Hardback. First Edition.

Hardback. Not in great condition, explains the price. Please look at the photos.

The Golden Age of Vienna (1948), written by Eugene L. Rachlis. This book, also published in 1948, paints a vivid picture of Vienna’s cultural zenith during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The title evokes the period when Vienna was the heart of European art, music, philosophy, and intellectual thought—especially before the upheavals of the World Wars.

Rachlis dives into the significance of Vienna as a cultural capital, highlighting the works of luminaries like composers Johann Strauss and Gustav Mahler, philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, and psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud. Vienna, at this point, was not only a city of high culture but also a vibrant nexus of intellectual and political ferment, leading to what many refer to as a "golden age" in both the arts and ideas.

The book likely addresses the city’s luxurious, but ultimately fleeting, period of prosperity before the destruction of the two World Wars, which left the city in physical and social ruins by 1948. Rachlis’s work is both a historical tribute and a melancholy reflection on the passing of this golden age, juxtaposed with the hardships of post-war Vienna.

A first edition hardback of this book from 1948 could be a great collector’s item—especially for those interested in cultural history or the intellectual legacy of Vienna. The fact that it was published so soon after the war also adds a layer of historical significance, considering how the city was beginning to rebuild both physically and culturally at the time.

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