"This book presents the American Revolution from the perspective of the Habsburg monarchy. It reveals how, despite seeming antithetical to the American cause, the Habsburg dynasty and people in the Habsburg lands realized the opportunity unleashed by the creation of the thirteen United States of America, demonstrating the wider effects of the American Revolution beyond the standard Atlantic World and portraying the Habsburg Monarchy in a new, oceanic light"--
Reinhold Wagnleitner argues that cultural propaganda played an enormous part in integrating Austrians and other Europeans into the American sphere during the Cold War. In Coca-Colonization and the Cold War, he shows that 'Americanization' was the result not only of market forces and consumerism but also of systematic planning on the part of the United States. Wagnleitner traces the intimate relationship between the political and economic reconstruction of a democratic Austria and the parallel process of cultural assimilation. Initially, U.S. cultural programs had been developed to impress Europeans with the achievements of American high culture. However, popular culture was more readily accepted, at least among the young, who were the primary target group of the propaganda campaign. The prevalence of Coca-Cola and rock 'n' roll are just two examples addressed by Wagnleitner. Soon, the cultural hegemony of the United States became visible in nearly all quarters of Austrian life: the press, advertising, comics, literature, education, radio, music, theater, and fashion. Hollywood proved particularly effective in spreading American cultural ideals. For Europeans, says Wagnleitner, the result was a second discovery of America. This book is a translation of the Austrian edition, published in 1991, which won the Ludwig Jedlicka Memorial Prize.
Political, economic, social, and cultural modernization dramatically transformed twentieth-century Austria. Innovative new methods of production and management, such as the assembly line, changed Austrian business after World War I, much as the Marshall Plan shaped the economy after World War II. At the same time, jazz, Hollywood movies, television programming, and mass commodities were as popular in Austria as elsewhere in Western Europe. Even political campaigns followed American trends. All this occurred despite the fact that in West Germany, American nostrums and models had been rejected, modified, or "translated" into milder versions. Ultimately, Austria was "Western Europeanized" when it joined the European Union in 1995. How Western are the Austrians? This volume analyzes trends toward Americanization and Westernization in Austria throughout the twentieth century. Reinhold Wagnleitner's lead essay studies the foreign politics of American pop culture. Anna Schober and Monika Bernold analyze the influence of Hollywood movies and television on postwar Austrian society. Reinhard Sieder follows changing discourses on family life, while Ingrid Bauer looks at American influences on Austrian women. Maria-Regina Kecht, Kurt Drexel, and Christina Hainzl follow the American impact on Austrian literature, opera, and art. Banker Anton Fink examines American banking and finance practices. Andre Pfoertner and Matthias Fuchs study the Americanization of Austrian business and tourism. Helmut Lackner describes how well-heeled Austrian travelers to the United States brought back innovative American production methods and other ideas gleaned from world expositions before World War I. American influences on Austrian politics and political science are dissected by Gunter Bischof, Martin Kofler, Fritz Plasser, and Anton Pelinka. The Americanization of Vienna is the subject of journalist Armin Thurnher's essay. Comparisons with West Germany are presented by Michael Hochgesc
Through literature, film, diplomatic relations, and academic exchanges, this volume examines key historical points in Austrian-American relations of the past century, pondering the roots of how and why "austrianness" was adapted to American culture, and how America's cultural lens focused on the two countries' exchanges. From Freud's early reception, to FDR's policy toward Austrian refugees in the Pacific, and from film adaptations to film-writing, literature and Freudianism during the McCarthy era, it reviews encounters between Austria and the United States, between Austrians and Americans, between each's images of the other, and the lives of those caught in between. (Series: American Studies in Austria, Vol. 15) [Subject: Politics, American Studies, Austrian Studies, Sociology]
Between its first date of publication in 1684 and 1784 classic 'Oesterreich über Alles Wann es Nur Will' went through more than twenty known editions which makes it, arguably, Europe's most successful 'economics textbook' prior to Adam Smith's 'Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' (1776). Philipp Wilhelm von Hörnigk laid in this book the foundations of what has become known as the 'mercantilist' political economy - a strategy for achieving national wealth and political strength simultaneously by building up a competitive domestic manufacturing industry with the help of the state. Hörnigk advocated standard recipes known from modern development economics, such as import substitution, protective tariffs on select goods as well as bounties and other financial as also logistic support by a proactive interventionist state in order to safeguard and nurture domestic industries that were in a state of infancy but which would be promising candidates for future growth and economies of scale. As new work by Erik Reinert and Lars Magnusson has shown, contrary to a sort of mainstream view in modern economics and economic history, it was such policies that tended to make European countries rich in the pre-industrial age, also laying the basic foundations for subsequent industrialization - even the 'Great Divergence' between Europe and Asia post 1800. Most European states were interventionist during the nineteenth century. They obviously drew upon a menu of recipes and political economy schedules that had circulated widely in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and which would subsequently also influence the major works by Friedrich List, Daniel Raymond and other nineteenth-century development theorists. Based on Hörnigk's popularity and the publication pattern for the book, the 'Hörnigk' strategy stood at the core of many a treatise and book written on economic matters in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe; in fact Hörnigk may be called the forefather of modern development economics. He certainly was a towering figure in the 'Germanic' economic discourses of the early modern period. 'Austria Supreme, if It So Wishes (1684)' will be the first-ever English translation of a work the importance of which for European economic development and the 'European Miracle' cannot be overestimated.
Following the transformations and conflicts of the first half of the twentieth century, Austria’s emergence as an independent democracy heralded a new era of stability and prosperity for the nation. Among the new developments was mass tourism to the nation’s cities, spa towns, and wilderness areas, a phenomenon that would prove immensely influential on the development of a postwar identity. Revisiting Austria incorporates films, marketing materials, literature, and first-person accounts to explore the ways in which tourism has shaped both international and domestic perceptions of Austrian identity even as it has failed to confront the nation’s often violent and troubled history.
Since Donald Trump’s first day in office, a large and energetic grassroots “Resistance” has taken to the streets to protest his administration’s plans for the United States. Millions marched in pussy hats on the day after the inauguration; outraged citizens flocked to airports to declare that America must be open to immigrants; masses of demonstrators circled the White House to demand action on climate change; and that was only the beginning. Who are the millions of people marching against the Trump administration, how are they connected to the Blue Wave that washed over the U.S. Congress in 2018—and what does it all mean for the future of American democracy? American Resistance traces activists from the streets back to the communities and congressional districts around the country where they live, work, and vote. Using innovative survey data and interviews with key players, Dana R. Fisher analyzes how Resistance groups have channeled outrage into activism, using distributed organizing to make activism possible by anyone from anywhere, whenever and wherever it is needed most. Beginning with the first Women’s March and following the movement through the 2018 midterms, Fisher demonstrates how the energy and enthusiasm of the Resistance paid off in a wave of Democratic victories. She reveals how the Left rebounded from the devastating 2016 election, the lessons for turning grassroots passion into electoral gains, and what comes next. American Resistance explains the organizing that is revitalizing democracy to counter Trump’s presidency.
It has been said that the Austrian Cultural Forum, designed by Austrian architect and theorist Raimund Abraham (1933-2010), is the most spectacular modern structure built in New York since the Seagram Building and the Guggenheim Museum. Despite or because of the exceedingly restrictive conditions of the location, Abraham succeeded in producing extraordinary stylistic elements while meeting utilitarian criteria. This publication features contributions on a range of political, historical and aesthetic issues related to the building and its creator.
From its origins in the Midwest in the early nineteenth century, the technique of light timber framing-also known at the time as "Chicago construction"-quickly came to underwrite the territorial and ideological expansion of the United States. Softwood construction was inherently practical, as its materials were readily available and required little skill to assemble. The result was a built environment that erased typological and class distinctions: no amount of money can buy you a better 2 x 4. This fundamental sameness paradoxically underlies the American culture of individuality, unifying all superficial differences. It has been both a cause and effect of the country's high regard for novelty, in contrast with the stability that is often assumed to be essential to architecture. American Framing is a visual and textual exploration of the social, environmental, and architectural conditions and consequences of this ubiquitous form of construction. For architecture, it offers a story of an American project that is bored with tradition, eager to choose economy over technical skill, and accepting of a relaxed idea of craft in the pursuit of something useful and new-the forming of an architecture that enables architecture.
