The Other '68ers
Student Protest and Christian Democracy in West Germany
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:14th May '21
Should be back in stock very soon
This is a history of 1968 written from a new perspective-that of center-right student activists in West Germany. Based on oral history interviews and new archival sources, it examines the ideas, experiences, and repertoires of center-right students in this age of protest. Writing these activists back into the history of 1968 and its afterlives -including student protest, cultural revolt, internationalism, debates about left-wing violence and the terror of the Red Army Faction, the memory wars of the 1980s and beyond - reveals that this was a broader, more versatile, and, ultimately, more consequential phenomenon than the traditionally narrower focus on a left-wing minority allows. Other '68ers demonstrates that we need a more nuanced history of the 1968 generation and of generational conflict during these years. Student activists comprised individuals from across the political spectrum, who often had very different ideas about what kind of a society they envisaged and how to address the shortcomings of West German democracy. 1968 was a moment of intense political conflict, but it also played out within the student body and nurtured contrasting identities. This book shows that the center-right involvement in 1968 had real consequences. Many of the protagonists of this book would go on to pursue high-profile political careers and leave their mark on West German political culturey. Other '68ers therefore sheds fresh light on how West Germany's center-right dealt with the crisis of hegemony and political identity it experienced in the wake of 1968, how it coped with generational change, how it transformed and modernized after losing power at the national level for the first time in 1969, and how it managed to re-emerge so successfully in the 1980s.
There is little to quibble with in this extremely smart and original study. The attention to both the period of student activism and a longer history; the insightful use of oral history and interpretation of visual sources; the thoughtful renewed discussion of terms like "generation" and "political identity"; and the highly effective use of case studies in each chapter all contribute to the volume's success. * Belinda Davis, Central European History *
This is a work of quite stupendous scholarship. * Rob Burns, German Politics and Society *
There is little to quibble with in this extremely smart and original study. The attention to both the period of student activism and a longer history; the insightful use of oral history and interpretation of visual sources; the thoughtful renewed discussion of terms like "generation" and "political identity"; and the highly effective use of case studies in each chapter all contribute to the volume's success. * Belinda Davis, Central European History *
Superbly written and researched. * D. A. Meier, CHOICE *
The Other '68ers makes important contributions to the history of 1968, Christian Democracy and the Federal Republic. * Ben Mercer, German History *
The historian describes with verve and great American flair how moderate academics came to occupy [a] place in the ideological maelstrom of the 1960s, how they fought for it, and what compass they developed for the period that followed, in which they rose to top positions. * Von Sebastian Liebold, translated from Jahrbuch Extremismus & Demokratie *
I commend von der Goltz for not overstating the importance of her subject. Instead, her book stays close to its sources and demonstrates the supporting role that center-right students played in shaping the provocative political culture of the 1960s and 1970s. It is a necessary corrective to histories of the West German student movement that describe leftist politics in isolation from the broader student body. And it reminds us that generational identities like "68er" are always politically divided. * Terence Renaud, American Historical Review *
In her richly sourced and conceptually sophisticated study, Anna von der Goltz argues that 1968 should be understood as a movement of the left as well as the right...this is a thoughtful, substantial, and fascinating intervention in the histories of generations in general and of 1968 and its memory wars in particular. The author's methodological rigor regarding the complexities of generational identity will make this a standard work for scholars in that field. * Maria D. Mitchell, sehepunkte - Rezensions journal für die Geschichtswissenschaften *
ISBN: 9780198849520
Dimensions: 240mm x 160mm x 26mm
Weight: 650g
330 pages