Bowler, Peter J., and Iwan Rhys Morus. Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey. 2005. An accessible survey covering the main developments in scientific thinking from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.
Burrow, J. W. The Crisis of Reason: European Thought, 1848–1914. 2002. A rewarding intellectual history.
Durozoi, Gerard, and Vincent Bouvet. Paris Between the Wars, 1919–1939: Art, Life, and Culture. 2010. A cultural history of the Parisian avant-garde in a defining period and place for Western art.
Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age. 1989. A penetrating analysis of the links between World War I and modern culture and politics.
Ezra, Elizabeth, ed. European Cinema. 2004. A concise history of European cinema from its origins to the present.
Gay, Peter. Modernism: The Lure of Heresy. 2008. An encyclopedic compendium by a renowned cultural historian that covers modernism in arts and culture from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s.
Jackson, Julian. The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934–38. 1990. Explores the rise and fall of the political, social, and cultural aspects of the Popular Front.
Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. 2000. A sophisticated survey that pays close attention to the crises of the interwar era.
Rothermund, Dietmar. The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939. 1996. A compact account that examines the causes and consequences of the Great Depression and covers events in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Slater, Don. Consumer Culture and Modernity. 1997. An informative introduction to scholarly interpretations of consumer society.
Weinbaum, Alys Eve, et al., eds. The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and Globalization. 2008. A collection of essays on how the “modern girl” of the 1920s and 1930s challenged conventions in major cities across the globe.
Weitz, Eric D. Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy. 2007. A thorough exploration of modern art, culture, and politics in interwar Germany.
DOCUMENTARIES
Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies (Arne Glimcher, 2010). This film depicts the influence of early film making on modern art — especially cubism.
Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935). A chilling Nazi propaganda film that covers the 1934 Nuremberg rally and demonstrates the new political possibilities of using mass media.
FEATURE FILMS
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011). A romantic tale of two actors who must grapple with the end of the silent film era and the emergence of talking films. Winner of the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture.
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940). Set in the United States during the 1930s, this famous film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel shows the suffering of a family displaced by the Great Depression.
Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Famous for its early use of special effects, this silent sci-fi classic from UFA studios in Berlin portrays a working-class revolution in a city of the future.
The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939). A favorite of cinema buffs, this dark comedy portrays the banality and corruption of the French aristocracy and subtly anticipates the brutality of the Second World War.
Un Chien Andalou (Luis Buñuel, 1929). Written by Buñuel and his surrealist collaborator Salvador Dalí, this short silent film is a surrealist classic that seems to portray the Freudian, dreamlike fantasies of a young man. The sixteen-minute film is available free online at several Web sites.
WEB SITES
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Friedrich Nietzsche. Provides a look at the life and theories of Friedrich Nietzsche. www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Sigmund Freud. Examines the life and theories of Sigmund Freud. www.iep.utm.edu/freud
Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914–1939. The Corcoran Gallery of Art provides an overview of the development of modernism in art and the themes within this genre. www.corcoran.org/modernism/index.htm