“Modern architecture and design,” argues Elena Shapira in her new book ‘Style and Seduction’ (published by Brandeis University Press, 2016), “were how Jewish intellectuals and art patrons exchanged their ideals of lifestyle and defined their social visibility in Vienna.” This thesis, that the innovative design culture developed in fin-de-siecle Vienna, the first serious manifestation of modernism, was enabled and advanced by Jewish patrons, critics, and collectors, was first presented by Shapira in an essay she published in the Studies in the Decorative Arts in 2006.