Macphee Review
Critical Voices: The University of Guelph Book Review Project Vol 7, no. 1 (2021) Rubble Music: Occupying the Ruins of Postwar Berlin, 1945–1950, by Abby Anderton. Indiana: Indiana University Press, July 2019. [v, 194, ISBN 9780253042422, 70$.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index. Dawson MacPhee Undergraduate Student (Second Year) Bachelor of Computer Science (Minor: Music) University of Guelph, Canada Ever since the fall of the Third Reich in 1945, discussion surrounding the reality of Germans’ quality of life during and after Hitler’s reign has been avoided and labeled taboo by many scholars. Traversing the waters of the blame, guilt, anger, and suffering experienced by this country’s people is a difficult topic to explore. Abby Anderton’s Rubble Music: Occupying the Ruins of Postwar Berlin, 1945–1950 shows post war German society from a perspective rarely considered: a musical one. In 194 pages and 5 chapters, Anderton explores the creation of music following urban disasters in a way that showcases captivating narratives about allied-occupied Germany. She argues that there are “audible tensions and resonances between German and Jewish suffering.”1 The book contains in-depth historical information about the rebuilding of a culture that had long depended on music for public entertainment and expression. The historical analysis allows Anderton to take a close look at the idea of rubble as both a physical and 1 Abby Anderton, Rubble Music: Occupying the Ruins of Postwar Berlin, 1945-1950 (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2019), 13. ________________________________________________________________________________ Critical Voices: The University of Guelph Book Review Project is part of the curriculum at the School of Fine Art and Music, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
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