Honor, Politics, and the Law in Imperial Germany, 1871-1914
Series: New studies in European history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, England; New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 215
ISBN-13: 9780521198325
Description: "Honor in nineteenth-century Germany is usually thought of as an anachronistic aristocratic tradition confined to the duelling elites. In this innovative study Ann Goldberg shows instead how it pervaded all aspects of German life and how, during an era of rapid modernization, it was adapted and incorporated into the modern state, industrial capitalism, and mass politics. In business, state administration, politics, labor relations, gender and racial matters, Germans contested questions of honor in an explosion of defamation litigation. Dr Goldberg surveys court cases, newspaper reportage, and parliamentary debates, exploring the conflicts of daily life and the intense politicization of libel jurisprudence in an era when an authoritarian state faced off against groups and individuals from 'below' claiming new citizenship rights around a democratized notion of honor and law. Her fascinating account provides a nuanced and important new understanding of the political, legal and social history of imperial Germany"--Provided by publisher.