Pain and prosperity
Subtitle: reconsidering twentieth-century German history
By: edited by Paul Betts and Greg Eghigian
Contributors: Betts, Paul; Eghigian, Greg, 1961-
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Stanford, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
Subjects: Political culture -- Germany; National socialism -- Moral and ethical aspects; Germany -- History -- 20th century; Germany -- History -- Philosophy; Germany (East) -- Social conditions
Description: Publisher description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-273) and index
Table of contents: title: Pain, entitlement, and social citzenship in modern Germany / Greg Eghigian; title: Cities forget, nations remember / Peter Fritzsche; title: Purchasing comfort / Patricia R. Stokes; title: Modern pain and Nazi panic / Geoffrey Cocks; title: The transformation of sacrifice / Sabine Behrenbeck; title: The myth of a suspended present / Katherine Pence; title: Scarcity and success / Ingrid M. Schenk; title: Remembrance of things past / Paul Betts