All That Is Solid Melts into Air (novel)

All That Is Solid Melts into Air is a 1982 novel by American author Marshall Berman. Named after a famous quote from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto, the book is a study of the experience of modernity, focusing on the transformative and often destructive power of modernization on individuals, societies, and the physical environment.

Berman analyzes the ways in which modernization, through processes like urbanization, industrialization, and capitalism, disrupts traditional social structures and creates a sense of constant change and upheaval. He argues that this dynamic process, while potentially liberating, also leads to feelings of alienation, fragmentation, and loss.

The book explores this experience across a broad historical and geographical range, drawing on examples from the 19th-century development of Paris and St. Petersburg, to the mid-20th century modernism of Robert Moses’s urban planning in New York City. Through the examination of literature, art, architecture, and urban planning, Berman illustrates the contradictions inherent in the modern project: its promises of progress and freedom juxtaposed against its tendencies towards destruction and dehumanization.

Key themes explored in All That Is Solid Melts into Air include:

• Modernity as a Process: Berman emphasizes that modernity is not a static state but a dynamic and ongoing process of transformation.
• The Ambivalence of Modernity: He highlights the dual nature of modernity, recognizing its potential for both liberation and oppression.
• The Experience of Fragmentation: The book explores the ways in which modernity disrupts traditional forms of community and identity, leading to feelings of isolation and alienation.
• The Importance of Place: Berman underscores the significance of the physical environment in shaping the modern experience, particularly the impact of urban development on individual and collective life.

All That Is Solid Melts into Air is considered a significant contribution to the fields of urban studies, cultural studies, and modernism, and continues to be widely read and discussed for its insights into the complexities of the modern world.