Modris Eksteins

Looks at the origins and impact of World War I, discusses the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet, and analyzes public opinion of the period.

The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age

Rites of Spring

Drawing on the personal experiences of members of the his own family, this poignant history of the Baltic nations describes their brief independence after World War I, the devastation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia during World War II, and their annexation into the Soviet Union. 15,000 first printing.

A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of Our Century

Walking Since Daybreak

Swieto wiosny

Named "One of the 100 best books ever published in Canada" (The Literary Review of Canada), Rites of Spring is a brilliant and captivating work of cultural history from the internationally acclaimed scholar and writer Modris Eksteins. Dazzling in its originality, witty and perceptive in unearthing patterns of behavior that history has erased, Rites of Spring probes the origins, the impact and the aftermath of World War I--from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du Printemps in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War," Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places." In this extraordinary book, Eksteins goes on to chart the seismic shifts in human consciousness brought about by this great cataclysm through the lives and words of ordinary people, works of literature, and such events as Lindbergh's transatlantic flight and the publication of the first modern bestseller, All Quiet on the Western Front. Rites of Spring is a remarkable and rare work, a cultural history that redefines the way we look at our past and toward our future.

This award-winning cultural history reveals how the Great War changed humanity. This sweeping volume probes the origins, the impact, and the aftermath of World War I—from the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. “The Great War,” as Modris Eksteins writes, “was the psychological turning point . . . for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places.” In this “bold and fertile book” (The Atlantic Monthly), Eksteins goes on to chart the seismic shifts in human consciousness brought about by this great cataclysm, through the lives and words of ordinary people, works of literature, and such events as Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight and the publication of the first modern bestseller, All Quiet on the Western Front. Rites of Spring is a rare and remarkable work, a cultural history that redefines the way we look at our past—and toward our future.

Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel

A Symposium

Nineteenth-century Germany

A consideration of how the growth in popularity of Vincent van Gogh's paintings and the trial of Otto Wacker for forgery, resulted in an examination of truth and authenticity during and after the Second World War.

Modris Eksteins

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