A Concrete Alliance

In A Concrete Alliance (Yale University Press) Grossman intertwines two symbols of French history: its architecture and political culture of the mid-20th century. Modern French architecture was heavily influenced by the political crisis of 1958 when the French Communist Party gained notoriety. Grossman uniquely relates the work of French architects such as Renée Gailhoustet — a female architect, rare for her generation — and members of the Atelier d’urbanisme et d’architecture to architectural elders, along with contemporary Marxist thinkers such as philosophers Louis Althusser and Henri Lefebvre. She showcases the pervasiveness of mutually reinforcing ideologies circulating across France by architects, civil servants, politicians, and activists. She also delves into the political nature of housing and how the connection between French communism and architectural modernism persists today.