Siegfried Kracauer

"Gertrud Koch has written a most lucid and much-needed analytical introduction to the diverse work of Siegfried Kracauer. Her study is brief yet comprehensive, both precise and incisive, deferent to previous scholarship yet never derivative. Koch's book is decidedly original in its sensitivity to recurrent metaphors (especially spatial images) that provide crucial points of orientation and focus throughout Kracauer's complex oeuvre."--Eric Rentschler, Harvard University

"Gertrud Koch's probing, sensitive, and demanding study of the work of Siegfried Kracauer is the first such sustained analysis of the wide range of Kracauer's writings in any language. The book represents the state of the art of scholarship on Kracauer, fully conversant with the extensive published works, the fascinating unpublished archival holdings in Marbach, and the wide range of secondary Kracauer literature in both German and English."--Thomas Y. Levin, Princeton University

The Cinema's Third Machine reproduces the diversity of perspectives and the intensity of controversies of early German film within the broad context of German social and political history. "Smart and superbly researched."_Choice.

How was Germany's experience of World War I depicted in film during the following years? Drawing on analysis of the films of the Weimar era—documentaries and feature films addressing the war's causes, life at the front, war at sea, and the home front—Bernadette Kester sketches out the historical context, including reviews and censors' reports, in which these films were made and viewed, and offers much insight into how Germans collectively perceived World War I during its aftermath and beyond.