{"product_id":"194x-andrew-m-shanken-9780816653669","title":"194X: Architecture, Planning, and Consumer Culture on the American Home Front","description":"During the Second World War, American architecture was in a state of crisis. The rationing of building materials and restrictions on nonmilitary construction continued the privations that the profession had endured during the Great Depression. At the same time, the dramatic events of the 1930s and 1940s led many architects to believe that their profession--and society itself--would undergo a profound shift once the war ended, with private commissions giving way to centrally planned projects. The magazine \u003ci\u003eArchitectural Forum\u003c\/i\u003e coined the term \"194X\" to encapsulate this wartime vision of postwar architecture and urbanism. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In a major study of American architecture during World War II, Andrew M. Shanken focuses on the culture of anticipation that arose in this period, as out-of-work architects turned their energies from the built to the unbuilt, redefining themselves as planners and creating original designs to excite the public about postwar architecture. Shanken recasts the wartime era as a crucible for the intermingling of modernist architecture and consumer culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Challenging the pervasive idea that corporate capitalism corrupted the idealism of modernist architecture in the postwar era, \u003ci\u003e194X\u003c\/i\u003e shows instead that architecture's wartime partnership with corporate American was founded on shared anxieties and ideals. Business and architecture were brought together in innovative ways, as shown by Shanken's persuasive reading of magazine advertisements for Revere Copper and Brass, U.S. Gypsum, General Electric, and other companies that prominently featured the work of leading progressive architects, including Louis I. Kahn, Eero Saarinen, and Walter Gropius. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Although the unexpected prosperity of the postwar era made the architecture of 194X obsolete before it could be built and led to its exclusion from the story of twentieth-century American architecture, Shanken makes clear that its anticipatory rhetoric and designs played a crucial role in the widespread acceptance\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Andrew M. Shanken\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0816653666\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780816653669\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2009 pg. 244","brand":"Andrew M. Shanken","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44072818311423,"sku":"9780816653669","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4bea9c8c-0359-4c16-8fb0-846e9ee0ab50.jpg?v=1685444108","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/194x-andrew-m-shanken-9780816653669","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}