German Unity Day is celebrated on October 3rd. Tag der Deutschen Einheit celebrates the 1990 reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic with ceremonial acts and the citizens’ festival Bürgerfest.
Browse our relevant titles and journals on the ramifications of a divided Germany below.
NEW in Paperback!
GERMAN DIVISION AS SHARED EXPERIENCE
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Postwar Everyday
Edited by Erica Carter, Jan Palmowski, and Katrin Schreiter
” … It offers a stimulating and unprecedented insight into a past that is (re)discovered on both sides of the Wall, strangely close and dissimilar at the same time.” • Francia
Read the Introduction.
INSIDE PARTY HEADQUARTERS
Organizational Culture and Practice of Rule in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Rüdiger Bergien
Translated from the German by David Burnett
Inside Party Headquarters reviews not only the party’s modes power and state interaction, but also the processes of negotiation and disputation preceding formal Politburo decisions, advancing the available detail and discourse surrounding this formative and volatile stretch of German history.
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New in Paperback!
THE POLITICS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Surveillance, Privacy, and Power in West Germany
Larry Frohman
“This is an important book crafted by a master of intellectual history. It will be widely consumed and discussed among German historians and a wide range of intellectuals interested in the origins of the modern surveillance state. Essential.” • Choice
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BREWING SOCIALISM
Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization
Andrew Kloiber
Sifting through the relationship between material culture and ideology, this unique work examines the complex tapestry of traditions, history and cultural values that underpinned the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Volume 27, Studies in German History
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END GAME
The 1989 Revolution in East Germany
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk
Translated from the German by Patricia Sutcliffe
End Game, a rich, sweeping account of the autumn of 1989 as it was experienced “on the ground” in the German Democratic Republic, powerfully depicting the desolation and dysfunction that shaped everyday life for so many East Germans in the face of economic disruption and political impotence.
Volume 26, Studies in German History
THE GUARDIANS OF CONCEPTS
Political Languages of Conservatism in Britain and West Germany, 1945-1980
Martina Steber
Translated from the German by David Dichelle
The Guardians of Concepts scrutinizes the debates about conservatism in the UK and the Federal Republic of Germany from the late 1940s to the early 1980s.
Volume 9, Studies in British and Imperial History
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RETHINKING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AFTER ’68
Selves and Solidarities in West Germany and Beyond
Edited by Belinda Davis, Friederike Brühöfener, and Stephen Milder
The year 1968 has widely been viewed as the only major watershed moment during the latter half of the twentieth century. Rethinking Social Movements after ’68 takes on this conventional approach, exploring the spaces, practices, organization, ideas and agendas of numerous activists and movements across the 1970s and 1980s.
Volume 31, Protest, Culture & Society
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Forthcoming in Paperback, January 2024!
DON’T NEED NO THOUGHT CONTROL
Western Culture in East Germany and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Gerd Horten
“Horten has written a fascinating, very readable, analytically sharp monograph, based on an impressive amount of primary and secondary sources… The average East German, not the few dissidents or the few fanatics on top, are the real heroes of his narrative.” • H-Soz-Kult
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OPEN ACCESS! Now available as paperback!
COMRADES IN ARMS
Military Masculinities in East German Culture
Tom Smith
“With [this book] Tom Smith has made a substantial contribution that will be useful to multiple fields, adding most notably to the research on gender in the GDR. The book is cogently written, comprehensively researched, and theoretically fluent.” • German Studies Review
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New in Paperback!
FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS
Women’s Stories of Power, Politics, and Everyday Life across East and West Germany
Phil Leask
“Friendship Without Borders is an engaging, highly readable, and deeply interesting book that will be of interest to historians of Modern Germany, women and gender history, and everyday life.” • German Studies Review
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New in Paperback!
FRANCE AND THE GERMAN QUESTION, 1945–1990
Edited by Frédéric Bozo and Christian Wenkel
“This volume is written by accomplished scholars and intended for university audiences. It offers new interpretations of French policy vis-a-vis Germany based on the latest available archival evidence. As such, it is essential reading for professional academics and students interested in European politics and the dynamics of European integration during the Cold War.” • History: Reviews of New Books
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Forthcoming November 2023
CHILDREN ARE EVERYWHERE
Conspicuous Reproduction and Childlessness in Reunified Berlin
Meghana Joshi
Children are Everywhere engages with how demographic anxieties and reproductive regimes emerge as forms of social inclusion and exclusion in a low fertility Western European context.
Volume 55, Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives
THE PATH TO THE BERLIN WALL
Critical Stages in the History of Divided Germany
Manfred Wilke
“The Path to the Berlin Wall constitutes a superlative model of combining biography with the study of nationalism.” · Choice
Berghahn Bestseller!
THE HISTORY OF THE STASI
East Germany’s Secret Police, 1945–1990
Jens Gieseke
Translated from the German by David Burnett
“The book is an exceptional achievement in every respect: it offers a calm, detached, factual and well balanced socio-historical analysis of the MfS (Ministry for Security) that covers all aspects.” • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
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In Paperback!
GENDERING POST-1945 GERMAN HISTORY
Entanglements
Edited by Karen Hagemann, Donna Harsch, and Friederike Brühöfener
“[This volume] deals with a fascinating but largely by historical research neglected field…[it] convincingly does justice to its claim enrich traditional historiography and to treat contemporary history as gender history.” • Sehepunkte
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A HISTORY SHARED AND DIVIDED
East and West Germany since the 1970s
Frank Bösch
Translated from the German by Jennifer Walcoff Neuheiser
“[The volume] provides over 500 pages of stimulating reading. It will be of interest to scholars researching in relevant fields and to graduate students embarking on doctoral work. It would also be excellent for a postgraduate seminar.” • Journal of European Studies
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Of Relevant Interest from Berghahn Journals
Editor: Jeffrey J. Anderson, Georgetown University
German Politics and Society is a joint publication of the BMW Center for German and European Studies (of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). These centers are represented by their directors on the journal’s Editorial Committee.
German Politics and Society is a peer-reviewed journal published and distributed by Berghahn Journals. It is the only American publication that explores issues in modern Germany from the combined perspectives of the social sciences, history, and cultural studies.