ABSTRACT
First published in 1987, this collection of essays, from one of the leading historians in the field, is concerned with the central debates about German history from Bismarck to Hitler. David Blackbourn questions many previously held assumptions, whether about the natural conservatism of the German peasantry of the ‘feudalization’ of the middle classes, and offers an innovative approach to such subjects as liberalism, anti-semitism and the continuing importance of religion in German history. Bringing together social, economic, cultural and political history, each essay is concerned with the social and political flux that characterized the period, and with the problems and opportunities it presented. This reissue will be of great value to any students and academics with an interest in the history of modern Germany.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |29 pages
Introduction
part |33 pages
‘Great Men'?
chapter |12 pages
Bismarck: the Sorcerer's Apprentice
chapter |10 pages
The Kaiser and his Entourage
chapter |9 pages
The Big Show: Syberberg's Hitler
part |75 pages
Awkward Classes
chapter |17 pages
The Discreet Charm of the German Bourgeoisie
chapter |26 pages
Peasants and Politics in Germany, 1871–1914
part |74 pages
Catholics and Politics
chapter |20 pages
Catholics, the Centre Party and Anti-Semitism
part |50 pages
Populists and Patricians