In the book Metropolis Berlin: 1880-1940, edited by Iain Boyd Whyte, and David Frisby, the authors write about the different stages of the city’s development. It reflects various events that influenced the structure, development, and population of the town. For example, one of the most important milestones in Berlin’s growth was its expansion, which extended into remote rural areas, which had a beneficial effect on the city’s economy and made the city’s amenities more accessible to residents of the remote areas of the city.
In my opinion, one of the most important features of the book is its approach to material selection. There are different ways to study a city: “statistical, in terms of demography and mortality; cultural, through the novels, paintings, and poetry stimulated by the nervous energy and danger of the city; or material, by reference to the volume of the building, mileage of streets, energy provision, and the like” (Whyte and Frisby 4). Indeed, culture, art, architecture, literature, and population can provide information about a city’s history. However, only their combination allows modern people to make a complete picture of the town, in this case, Berlin. I believe that this allowed the authors to describe its history in the specified period as fully as possible. Thus, readers get a complete picture and learn the smallest details of Berlin’s development and life.
Work Cited
Whyte, Iain Boyd, and David Frisby. Metropolis Berlin: 1880-1940. University of California Press, 2012.