Becoming East German

“Moving beyond debates concerning totalitarianism, the 12 authors analyze the characteristics of daily life in the GDR. As a result, the subjects of the essays are sometimes surprising--dieting habits, the battle against tuberculosis, and luxury dining, for example—which only adds to the collection’s contribution to the historiography of its subject… the authors succeed in their goal of moving beyond the gray exteriors and drab lives that are often associated with life in East Germany. This alone makes the book a valuable addition to the scholarly literature.” · Choice

“This book is an excellent example of the effectiveness of an edited collection’s ability to convey a broad array of subjects that help reinforce the central theoretical premises of the work. [The] coeditors…have made excellent choices in almost all of the essays and displayed a clear vision of the major debates or historiographical controversies to which this collection could best contribute. As such, this collection is a model for future authors to follow and is highly recommended for both academic and interested general audiences alike.” · History: Reviews of New Books

“Which influences and earlier experiences determined the coming-into-being of East Germans after 1945? These are the questions addressed in this edited volume by Mary Fulbrook and Andrew Port, two researchers whose recent work has significantly inspired GDR studies... What is especially attractive is that a number of essays look at the often neglected interdependency between the two German states, their common historical roots and traditions... This not only draws attention to general developments on both sides of the Iron Curtain, but also calls into question conventional periodization.” · Sehepunkte

“Mary Fulbrook and Andrew I. Port have brought together essays on an array of topics that together serve as a very useful barometer of the state of the field of historiography on East Germany… original, incisive, and persuasive… Taken as a whole, the essays highlight historians’ growing recognition of the importance of the pre-1945 past in understanding the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) history and their willingness to situate East German developments in a larger, comparative framework. As is so powerfully demonstrated here, analyses of East Germans’ perceptions, attitudes, and predispositions can shed much light on such fundamental issues… [T]he volume represents a substantial contribution to the scholarship on East Germany." · American Historical Review

“This is an excellent edited collection. It provides a range of methodological approaches and is right up to date: it introduces a number of new academics onto the scene while also providing some old favorites. The volume significantly adds to our understanding of East Germany and its population. It provides a reassessment of antifascism and memory... Port’s introduction and Fulbrook’s chapter on memory are masterful.” · Mark Fenemore, Manchester Metropolitan University

“By focusing less on politics in the narrower sense of the word, and more on changing discourses on the one hand and the agency of ordinary East Germans on the other, the volume provides us with exciting and innovative new sources and results as well as important questions for future research.” · Dorothee Wierling, Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte, Hamburg