Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century in the areas of social theory, philosophy and aesthetics. Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966), also associated with the Frankfurt School, was a writer, cultural critic, sociologist and film theorist.

• Correspondence 1923–1966 NoteIllustrationsEditorial NoteIndex

"Spanning four decades and two continents, these letters are key documents in the annals of twentieth-century thought. Bound by an intimacy that abides even during phases of terse estrangement, Teddie and Friedel gossip about their encounters with the century�s literati at one moment – and spar over questions of utopia and ideology, language and style, critique and theory at the next." Johannes von Moltke, University of Michigan "This remarkable correspondence documents one of the most important intellectual friendships of the twentieth century. The seemingly antinomic relationship between their modes of thought�Kracauer�s sounding of popular culture for societal truth versus Adorno�s insistence that high culture alone offered a refuge for  philosophical truth�made for pointed, and often barbed, exchanges of ideas. Yet the correspondence is much more than an abstract protocol; it is repeatedly illumined by lighting flashes emanating from the changing erotic and power relationships that determined the nature of the friendship." Michael Jennings, Princeton University

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century in the areas of social theory, philosophy and aesthetics. Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966), also associated with the Frankfurt School, was a writer, cultural critic, sociologist and film theorist.

• Correspondence 1923–1966 NoteIllustrationsEditorial NoteIndex

"Spanning four decades and two continents, these letters are key documents in the annals of twentieth-century thought. Bound by an intimacy that abides even during phases of terse estrangement, Teddie and Friedel gossip about their encounters with the century�s literati at one moment – and spar over questions of utopia and ideology, language and style, critique and theory at the next." Johannes von Moltke, University of Michigan "This remarkable correspondence documents one of the most important intellectual friendships of the twentieth century. The seemingly antinomic relationship between their modes of thought�Kracauer�s sounding of popular culture for societal truth versus Adorno�s insistence that high culture alone offered a refuge for  philosophical truth�made for pointed, and often barbed, exchanges of ideas. Yet the correspondence is much more than an abstract protocol; it is repeatedly illumined by lighting flashes emanating from the changing erotic and power relationships that determined the nature of the friendship." Michael Jennings, Princeton University

Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), a prominent member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century in the areas of social theory, philosophy and aesthetics. Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966), also associated with the Frankfurt School, was a writer, cultural critic, sociologist and film theorist.

• Correspondence 1923–1966 NoteIllustrationsEditorial NoteIndex

"Spanning four decades and two continents, these letters are key documents in the annals of twentieth-century thought. Bound by an intimacy that abides even during phases of terse estrangement, Teddie and Friedel gossip about their encounters with the century�s literati at one moment – and spar over questions of utopia and ideology, language and style, critique and theory at the next." Johannes von Moltke, University of Michigan "This remarkable correspondence documents one of the most important intellectual friendships of the twentieth century. The seemingly antinomic relationship between their modes of thought�Kracauer�s sounding of popular culture for societal truth versus Adorno�s insistence that high culture alone offered a refuge for  philosophical truth�made for pointed, and often barbed, exchanges of ideas. Yet the correspondence is much more than an abstract protocol; it is repeatedly illumined by lighting flashes emanating from the changing erotic and power relationships that determined the nature of the friendship." Michael Jennings, Princeton University