Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. This book is one of a number of new studies of German nationalism written under the supervision of Hans-Ulrich Wehler. Social analysis extends no further than stating that most gymnasts came from artisanal and commercial trades. There is nothing here on the gymnastic movement as a political force. Instead, Goltermann's concern is the gymnastic movement and national identity.
National identity is diverse, contested, and combines with other identities.
These volatile combinations are not just discursive, although Goltermann follows Michel Foucault in asserting the power of discourse. The visualization of identity in drills and festivals delineates and produces identity. Goltermann argues that the gymnasts' drills and displays defined and produced habitus, fusing individual and collective identity. She also argues that habitus underwent characteristic if gradual, almost imperceptible shifts before and after unification. The book is divided into two sections covering the decade or so preceding the formation of the Second Empire and the two decades following.