Making the Most of Tomorrow:A Laboratory of Socialist Modeity in Czechoslovakia (Václav Havel Series)

by: Matej Spuý (Author),Derek Paton(Translator)

Publisher: Karolinum Press, Charles University

Publication Date: 2019/7/15

Language: English

Print Length: 330 pages

ISBN-10: 8024640171

ISBN-13: 9788024640174

Book Description

Most, one of the most impressive historical cities of Northe Bohemia, was destroyed in the sixties and seventies for coal mining. When plans to redevelop the city began, hope and expectations ran high; in the end, however, Most became a symbol for the heartless incompetence of Czechoslovak communism. In this book, Matěj Spuý explores the historical city of Most from the nineteenth century into the years following World War II, investigating the decision to destroy it as well as the negotiations conceing the spirit of the proposed new city. Situating postwar Most in the context of cultural and social shifts in Czechoslovakia and Europe as a whole, Spuý traces the path a medieval city took to become a showcase of brutalist architecture and the regime’s technicist inhumanity. But the book, like the city of Most itself, does not end in tragedy. Fusing architectural and political history with urban and environmental studies, Spuý’s tale shows the progress that can be made when Czechs confront the crimes of the past—including the expulsion of local Germans and the treatment of the Romani minority—and engage with rational, contemporary European concepts of urban renewal.

About the Author

Most, one of the most impressive historical cities of Northe Bohemia, was destroyed in the sixties and seventies for coal mining. When plans to redevelop the city began, hope and expectations ran high; in the end, however, Most became a symbol for the heartless incompetence of Czechoslovak communism. In this book, Matěj Spuý explores the historical city of Most from the nineteenth century into the years following World War II, investigating the decision to destroy it as well as the negotiations conceing the spirit of the proposed new city. Situating postwar Most in the context of cultural and social shifts in Czechoslovakia and Europe as a whole, Spuý traces the path a medieval city took to become a showcase of brutalist architecture and the regime’s technicist inhumanity. But the book, like the city of Most itself, does not end in tragedy. Fusing architectural and political history with urban and environmental studies, Spuý’s tale shows the progress that can be made when Czechs confront the crimes of the past—including the expulsion of local Germans and the treatment of the Romani minority—and engage with rational, contemporary European concepts of urban renewal.

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