A Different Germany

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"This book was written for an American (Jewish) readership. But some chapters, especially the first two, address the non-specialist, while others, especially the last two, accommodate the expert. The work contains one theme and one thesis. The theme is simple and to be welcomed: Americans, and American Jews in particular, need to understand that Germany has changed and that its Jewish community is made up of more than just a few souls morbidly attached to blood-soaked soil. We are therefore introduced to Jewish writers, politicians and intellectuals; to Jews of Russian origin, German background and Israeli descent; and to the many issues facing today's German-Jewish community of 100,000 plus members. Peck discusses the role of the Holocaust in German and American political life. He relates how Russian Jews have begun to take over community institutions, revitalizing German Jewry especially in Berlin and the provinces. And he compares and contrasts the situation of Turks and Jews today, whom many Germans still perecive as foreign, no matter how acculturated they happen to be. All of this material is interesting, but not new"--Review from H-Net.

Avoiding what Barbara Tuchman has called the "trap built into all recorded history—the disproportionate survival of the negative," this book offers a balanced appraisal of Imperial Germany. Without ignoring the society's many problems, the contributors question the overwhelmingly negative tenor of Wilhelmian historiography and analyze key institutions and events to illustrate the positive elements of this period in German history. What accounted for the reputation of its universities and research institutions, for instance, or for the successful growth of its cities, or for the dramatic drop in the emigration rate by the turn of the century? The answers reveal a spirit of innovation and optimism that was at least as characteristic of German life and society at the time as were the glorification of military values and the overlay of cultural pessimism. Recognizing the wide range of interpretations on this controversial subject, the editors have included a critical bibliography that explores the rich and varied scholarship on pre-1914 Germany.

As much as any other nation, Germany has long been understood in terms of totalizing narratives. For Anglo-American observers in particular, the legacies of two world wars still powerfully define twentieth-century German history, whether through the lens of Nazi-era militarism and racial hatred or the nation’s emergence as a “model” postwar industrial democracy. This volume transcends such common categories, bringing together transatlantic studies that are unburdened by the ideological and methodological constraints of previous generations of scholarship. From American perceptions of the Kaiserreich to the challenges posed by a multicultural Europe, it argues for—and exemplifies—an approach to German Studies that is nuanced, self-reflective, and holistic.

This practical introduction to German politics from 1945 has summaries of key points, a guide to further reading and a range of seminar questions for discussion.

A Different Germany looks at German film, popular literature, theatre, garden culture, and popular music as examples of how people of German-Turkish descent, women and culture writ large are thriving in a Germany that is, for all of the struggles this entails, already a country of great diversity. Germany, the authors argue in their own particular contexts, is much more than the few tropes that circulate through the Cold War lens in much of the English-speaking world.