Brgles Miriam Mary: Borba za moć: politika, umjetnici i publika

Miriam Mary Brgles: The Struggle for Power: Politics, Artists and the Public

Citadela libri publishing house and the Croatian Catholic University have published the scientific monograph The Struggle for Power: Politics, Artists and the Public authored by Ph.D. Miriam Mary Brgles, postdoctoral student at the Department of Sociology of the Croatian Catholic University. The reviewers of the book are prof. Ph.D. Anči Leburić and prof. Ph.D. Leo Rafolt, and the chief editor of the edition is prof. Ph.D. Sanja Nikcevic. A case study approach and mixed methodology were used to investigate social development and the role of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb, as the largest and parent national theater company. The structure of the book consists of two units. The first part covers the historical period of the end of the 19th century, when the new theater building was being built, while the second refers to the period of the beginning of the 21st century and the year 2010, during which the 150th anniversary of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb was celebrated. Within the mentioned time frames, the social context, i.e. the interaction of politics and culture, was investigated, with an emphasis on the aspects of theater development and the actions of three key actors: the audience, management and artists. According to the review by prof. Ph.D. Leburić "(...) the significance of this book is indeed multiple: theoretical, historical, cultural, research and methodological. Brgles studiously and originally makes all these dimensions interactive in his attractive methodological (mixed) approach and manages to present the results of his analyzes and comprehensive research to the readers in a very clear, interesting and casual manner of young sociological reflection on some truly "difficult" and old historical contradictions, omissions and difficulties in social and, especially, theater life of the capital of Croatia." The book is equipped with reproductions of selected original Ahiva material from the Collection of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb and the Stjepan Miletić Fund (Department for the History of Croatian Theater of the Institute for the History of Croatian Literature and Music of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts), of which some documents, such as the correspondence between ban Khuen and the intendant Miletić, have been made public for the first time, as well as photographs of the building's exterior and details theaters, recorded by Davor Višnjić.