Helmut Kohl's Quest for Normality

Helmut Kohl's Quest for Normality PDF Author: Christian Wicke
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1782385746
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
During his political career, Helmut Kohl used his own life story to promote a normalization of German nationalism and to overcome the stigma of the Nazi period. In the context of the cold war and the memory of the fascist past, he was able to exploit the combination of his religious, generational, regional, and educational (he has a PhD in History) experiences by connecting nationalist ideas to particular biographical narratives. Kohl presented himself as the embodiment of “normality”: a de-radicalized German nationalism which was intended to eclipse any anti-Western and post-national peculiarities. This book takes a biographical approach to the study of nationalism by examining its manifestation in Helmut Kohl and the way he historicized Germany’s past.

Helmut Kohl's Quest for Normality

Helmut Kohl's Quest for Normality PDF Author: Christian Wicke
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1782385746
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
During his political career, Helmut Kohl used his own life story to promote a normalization of German nationalism and to overcome the stigma of the Nazi period. In the context of the cold war and the memory of the fascist past, he was able to exploit the combination of his religious, generational, regional, and educational (he has a PhD in History) experiences by connecting nationalist ideas to particular biographical narratives. Kohl presented himself as the embodiment of “normality”: a de-radicalized German nationalism which was intended to eclipse any anti-Western and post-national peculiarities. This book takes a biographical approach to the study of nationalism by examining its manifestation in Helmut Kohl and the way he historicized Germany’s past.

The Cold War [5 volumes]

The Cold War [5 volumes] PDF Author: Spencer C. Tucker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440860769
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 2392

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Book Description
This sweeping reference work covers every aspect of the Cold War, from its ignition in the ashes of World War II, through the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War superpower face-off between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century and still reverberates around the world today. This comprehensive and insightful multivolume set provides authoritative entries on all aspects of this world-changing event, including wars, new military technologies, diplomatic initiatives, espionage activities, important individuals and organizations, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. This expansive coverage provides readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex conflict. The work begins with a preface and introduction and then offers illuminating introductory essays on the origins and course of the Cold War, which are followed by some 1,500 entries on key individuals, wars, battles, weapons systems, diplomacy, politics, economics, and art and culture. Each entry has cross-references and a list of books for further reading. The text includes more than 100 key primary source documents, a detailed chronology, a glossary, and a selective bibliography. Numerous illustrations and maps are inset throughout to provide additional context to the material.

Memory Laws, Memory Wars

Memory Laws, Memory Wars PDF Author: Nikolay Koposov
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108419720
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
A major contribution to our understanding of present-day historical consciousness through a study of memory laws across Europe.

Discussing Pax Germanica

Discussing Pax Germanica PDF Author: Emmanuel Comte
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040164447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
Discussing Pax Germanica: The Rise and Limits of German Hegemony in European Integration examines and reconsiders Germany’s paramount role in shaping European integration from the aftermath of World War II to the present. This volume meticulously explores the ascendancy of Germany to a dominant position in European politics and economics. It critically engages with the concept of hegemony, delineating Germany’s influence on the development of the European Union and its resemblance to historical precedents in German history like the Holy Roman Empire. Methodologically, the book integrates archival research with contemporary literature to craft a narrative that is both historically grounded and relevant to current European affairs. The work stands out for its exploration of Germany’s strategic use of economic power and political diplomacy to shape the European Union according to its interests while facing inherent limitations and challenges, such as the eurozone crisis, migration policies, energy dependency, and foreign policy towards Russia. Targeting a diverse audience of both scholars and non-specialists, this book is particularly relevant for those interested in European politics, German history, and international relations.

Sustainable Utopias

Sustainable Utopias PDF Author: Jennifer L. Allen
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674249143
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
To reclaim a sense of hope for the future, German activists in the late twentieth century engaged ordinary citizens in innovative projects that resisted alienation and disenfranchisement. By most accounts, the twentieth century was not kind to utopian thought. The violence of two world wars, Cold War anxieties, and a widespread sense of crisis after the 1973 global oil shock appeared to doom dreams of a better world. The eventual victory of capitalism and, seemingly, liberal democracy relieved some fears but exchanged them for complacency and cynicism. Not, however, in West Germany. Jennifer Allen showcases grassroots activism of the 1980s and 1990s that envisioned a radically different society based on community-centered politicsÑa society in which the democratization of culture and power ameliorated alienation and resisted the impotence of end-of-history narratives. BerlinÕs History Workshop liberated research from university confines by providing opportunities for ordinary people to write and debate the story of the nation. The Green Party made the politics of direct democracy central to its program. Artists changed the way people viewed and acted in public spaces by installing objects in unexpected environments, including the Stolpersteine: paving stones, embedded in residential sidewalks, bearing the names of Nazi victims. These activists went beyond just trafficking in ideas. They forged new infrastructures, spaces, and behaviors that gave everyday people real agency in their communities. Undergirding this activism was the environmentalist concept of sustainability, which demanded that any alternative to existing society be both enduring and adaptable. A rigorous but inspiring tale of hope in action, Sustainable Utopias makes the case that it is still worth believing in human creativity and the labor of citizenship.

Yesterday

Yesterday PDF Author: Tobias Becker
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 067425175X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Nostalgia, supposedly, is the sphere of the sentimentalist. But also, and most definitely, it is a force in the creation of the present and future and thus worth careful thought. Yesterday argues that nostalgia's critics defend an idea of progress as naïve as the longing they denounce, while conflating nostalgia itself with historical whitewashing.

The Engaged Historian

The Engaged Historian PDF Author: Stefan Berger
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1789202000
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
On the surface, historical scholarship might seem thoroughly incompatible with political engagement: the ideal historian, many imagine, is a disinterested observer focused exclusively on the past. In truth, however, political action and historical research have been deeply intertwined for as long as the historical profession has existed. In this insightful collection, practicing historians analyze, reflect on, and share their experiences of this complex relationship. From the influence of historical scholarship on world political leaders to the present-day participation of researchers in post-conflict societies and the Occupy movement, these studies afford distinctive, humane, and stimulating views on historical practice and practitioners

Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition?

Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? PDF Author: Emmanuel Nathan
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 311041659X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The term ‘Judeo-Christian’ in reference to a tradition, heritage, ethic, civilization, faith etc. has been used in a wide variety of contexts with widely diverging meanings. Contrary to popular belief, the term was not coined in the United States in the middle of the 20th century but in 1831 in Germany by Ferdinand Christian Baur. By acknowledging and returning to this European perspective and context, the volume engages the historical, theological, philosophical and political dimensions of the term’s development. Scholars of European intellectual history will find this volume timely and relevant.

The Freest Country in the World

The Freest Country in the World PDF Author: Stephen Brockmann
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1640141545
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Shows that while the GDR is generally seen as - and mostly was - an oppressive and unfree country, from late 1989 until autumn 1990 it was the "freest country in the world" the dictatorship had disappeared while the welfare system remained. Stephen Brockmann's new book explores the year 1989/1990 in East Germany, arguing that while the GDR is generally seen as - and was for most of its forty years - an oppressive and unfree country, from autumn 1989 until the autumn of 1990 it was the "freest country in the world," since the dictatorship had disappeared while the welfare system remained. That such freedom existed in the last months of the GDR and was a result of the actions of East Germans themselves has been obscured, Brockmann shows, by the now-standard description of the collapse of the GDR and the reunification of Germany as a triumph of Western democracy and capitalism. Brockmann first addresses the culture of 1989/1990 by looking at various media from that final year, particularly film documentaries. He emphasizes punk culture and the growth of neo-Nazism and the Antifa movement - factors often ignored in accounts of the period. He then analyzes three later semiautobiographical novels about the period. He devotes chapters to dramatic films dealing with German reunification made relatively soon after the event and to more recent film and television depictions of the period, respectively. The final chapter looks at monuments and memorials of the 1989/1990 period, and a conclusion considers the implications of the book's findings for the present day.

The Age of Interconnection

The Age of Interconnection PDF Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190918950
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 817

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Book Description
A panoramic view of global history from the end of World War Two to the dawn of the new millennium, and a portrait of an age of unprecedented transformation. In this ambitious, groundbreaking, and sweeping work, Jonathan Sperber guides readers through six decades of global history, from the end of World War Two to the onset of the new millennium. As Sperber's immersive and propulsive book reveals, the defining quality of these decades involved the rising and unstoppable flow of people, goods, capital, and ideas across boundaries, continents, and oceans, creating prosperity in some parts of the world, destitution in others, increasing a sense of collective responsibility while also reinforcing nationalism and xenophobia. It was an age of transformation in every realm of human existence: from relations with nature to relations between and among nations, superpowers to emerging states; from the forms of production to the foundations of religious faith. These changes took place on an unprecedentedly global scale. The world both developed and contracted. Most of all, it became interconnected. To make sense of it, Sperber illuminates the central trends and crucial developments across a wide variety of topics, adopting a chronology that divides the era into three distinct periods: the postwar, from 1945 through 1966, which retained many elements of period of world wars; the upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, when the pillars of the postwar world were undermined; and the two decades at the end of the millennium, when new structures were developed, structures that form the basis of today's world, even as the iconic World Trade Center was reduced by terrorism to rubble. The Age of Interconnection is a clear-eyed portrait of an age of blinding change.