Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives
2012; Oxford University Press; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/gerhis/ghs078
ISSN1477-089X
Autores Tópico(s)European history and politics
ResumoThis volume offers valuable reflections on the state of the field by leading international historians of Imperial Germany. Its twenty-one essays, now translated and partially revised, originally appeared in a 2009 festschrift for Hans-Ulrich Wehler entitled Das Deutsche Kaiserreich in der Kontroverse. While many do not respond directly to the strong theses of the Bielefeld historian, it is fair to say that all these essays reflect the lasting provocation engendered by Wehler’s attempt to describe and critically evaluate German society as whole. Rather than examine all the volume’s essays, this review seeks to identify some common questions and methodologies currently animating the study of Imperial Germany. The Sonderweg debate casts a long shadow in this volume. For some time now, criticizing the supposed dominance of the social historical viewpoint has provided the opening gambit of many historical studies. Yet, when Wehler’s position is neatly dispatched as ‘early Bielefeldism’ (Stephan Malinowski, p. 151), one must wonder whether it is the anti-Sonderweg position that has now become hegemonic in the field. This is the claim advanced by Helmut Walser Smith in his opening essay, ‘When the Sonderweg Debate Left Us’.
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