German Modernities From Wilhelm to Weimar

What was German modernity? What did the years between 1880 and 1930 mean for Germany's navigation through a period of global capitalism, imperial expansion, and technological transformation? German Modernities From Wilhelm to Weimar brings together leading historians of the Imperial and Weimar periods from across North America to readdress the question of German modernities. Acutely attentive to Germany’s eventual turn towards National Socialism and the related historiographical arguments about ‘modernity’, this volume explores the variety of social, intellectual, political, and imperial projects pursued by those living in Germany in the Wilhelmine and Weimar years who were yet uncertain about what they were creating and which future would come. It includes varied case studies, based on cutting-edge research, which rethink the relationship of the early 20th century to the rise of Nazism and the Third Reich.A range of political, social and cultural issues, including citizenship, welfare, empire, aesthetics and sexuality, as well as the very nature of German modernity, are analyzed and placed in a global context. German Modernities From Wilhelm to Weimar is a book of vital significance to all students of modern German history seeking to further understand the complex period from 1880 to 1930.

[A] theoretically ambitious volume … admirable for its clear focus and coherence … [It] is not only characterized by a high level of scholarship but also succeeds in showing the complexities of German history., A comprehensive and well-structured collection of articles on modern German history ... This multi-author survey is helpful not only for readers first approaching modern German history, but also for those experts who want to refresh their knowledge through the lens of non-mainstream and recent topics of historical writing about Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany., This fine collection of sophisticated essays mounts an important challenge to received notions of modern German history. The book’s distinguished authors collectively wrestle the discussion of modernity in German history away from an earlier concern with transitional narratives – the overcoming of tradition, of feudal remnants, of militarism, and the like. Instead, they explore “modernity” as a claim made by historical actors, and as a set of practices more than a theoretical concern. German modernity here is not so much virtue or vice, but a global condition. Collectively, the authors thus rewrite the history of the Wilhelmine and Weimar periods for our times., German Modernities is a rich and original collection of essays on the multiple ways in which possible modern futures were imagined and struggled for in Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany. Theoretically and empirically these essays challenge arguments about Germany’s incomplete or pathological modernization as well as those about the inevitably disciplinary and repressive nature of modernity. Essays by scholars of several generations explore topics ranging from social reform and welfare to secularism, sexuality, and citizenship. They view Germany not only from within but also in a global, transnational, and colonial context. They illustrate in fascinating detail that Wilhelmine Germany was far from stagnant and unmodern and Weimar more than crisis-ridden in unproductive ways. This collection is a valuable addition to the ongoing debates about the diversity and ambivalence of German modernities and the complex ways they played out in the politics of everyday life., Together the contributions to this important volume create a powerful mosaic of German modernities from the late 19th century to the onset of National Socialism. Ranging from studies of empire and reform to citizenship, aesthetics, and subjectivity—and the interactions of such forces—the articles collected here reveal the complex and contradictory ways, in which contemporaries conceptualized and fought over what it means to be modern. Engaging with theory, revising old stories and telling new ones, the volume shows just how entangled Germany’s history is and must be with broader debates about the nature of modernity.

Geoff Eley is Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History and Professor of German Studies at the University of Michigan, USA. He is the author of Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000 (2002), A Crooked Line: From Cultural History to the History of Society (2005) and Nazism as Fascism: Violence, Ideology, and the Ground of Consent in Germany, 1930-1945 (2013).Jennifer L. Jenkins is Associate Professor of German and European History at the University of Toronto, Canada, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Modern German History. She is the author of Provincial Modernity: Local Culture and Liberal Politics in Fin-de-Siècle Hamburg (2003), as well as a number of articles on German culture and politics.Tracie Matysik is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. She is the author of Reforming the Moral Subject: Ethics and Sexuality in Central Europe, 1890-1930 (2008).