Life among the ruins
Subtitle: cityscape and sexuality in Cold War Berlin
By: Jennifer V. Evans
Publisher: New York
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
Language: eng
Number of pages: 317
ISBN-13: 9780230202016
Subjects: Sex role; Sexual ethics; Social conditions; Civil society; Sex customs; Prostitution; History
Description: As home to 1920s excess and Hitler's Final Solution, Berlin's physical and symbolic landscape was an important staging ground for the highs and lows of modernity. In Cold War Berlin, social and political boundaries were porous, and the rubble gave refuge to a re-emerging gay and lesbian scene, youth gangs, prostitutes, hoods, and hustlers.

'From mothers sheltering in bunkers, children playing in the ruins, and rent boys plying their trade at train stations, to teenagers courting at the Wannsee, Jennifer Evans brings the experiences of Berliners alive. This is a fascinating book, which should be read by all those with an interest in the social history of the early Cold War.' - Josie McLellan, University of Bristol, UK 'A compelling and imaginative experiment in joining the history of urban space with the histories of social deviance and cultural reconstruction, Evans' book provides a richly detailed portrait of a radically dislocated world.' - Dagmar Herzog, author of Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The cellar and the bunker; title: The street; title: The train station; title: Bars, cafés, clubs; title: Home; title: Conclusion : borders and boundaries.