Pain and Prosperity

Reconsidering Twentieth-Century German History

Greg Eghigian editor Paul Betts editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Stanford University Press

Published:27th Dec '02

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Pain and Prosperity cover

The turn of the millennium has stimulated much scholarly reflection on the historical significance of the twentieth century as a whole. Explaining the century’s dual legacy of progress and prosperity on one hand, and of world war, genocide, and mass destruction on the other, has become a key task for academics and policymakers alike. Not surprisingly, Germany holds a prominent position in the discussion.

What does it mean for a society to be so closely identified with both inflicting and withstanding enormous suffering, as well as with promoting and enjoying unprecedented affluence? What did Germany’s experiences of misery and abundance, fear and security, destruction and reconstruction, trauma and rehabilitation have to do with one another? How has Germany been imagined and experienced as a country uniquely stamped by pain and prosperity?

The contributors to this book engage these questions by reconsidering Germany’s recent past according to the themes of pain and prosperity, focusing on such topics as welfare policy, urban history, childbirth, medicine, racism, political ideology, consumerism, and nostalgia.

"This highly important work uses the leitmotiv of pain and prosperity to illuminate German history, with excellent essays that explore how these notions shaped each other, and how they framed German conceptions of identity, memory, selfhood, nationhood, and the past." -Alon Confino,University of Virginia

ISBN: 9780804739375

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 503g

288 pages