Germany Since 1945: Politics, Culture, and Society

by Peter C. Caldwell

Peter C. Caldwell and Karrin Hanshew's Germany Since 1945 traces the social, political and cultural history of Germany from the end of the Second World War right up to the present day. The book provides a narrative that not only explores the histories of East and West Germany in their international contexts, but one that also takes the significantly different world of the Berlin Republic seriously, analyzing it as a distinct and significant period of German history in its own right.

Split into three parts roughly devoted to a quarter-century each, this book guides students through contemporary Germany from the catastrophe of war, genocide and the country's division to the very different challenges facing the reunified Germany of the 21st century. There are key primary source excerpts integrated throughout the text, as well as 32 images, numerous maps, charts and tables and a detailed bibliography to further aid study. The book is complemented by online resources which include sample syllabi and a pedagogical supplement.

Germany Since 1945 underscores both the particularities of German history and the international trends and transactions that shaped it, giving good coverage to key aspects of post-1945 German society and politics,

* East and West German paths to reconstruction
* The development of consumer society and the welfare state
* The politics of memory and coming to terms with the Nazi past
* The Cold War
* New social and political movements that opposed the postwar status
* Immigration and the move toward a multicultural society

This is an essential text for any student of contemporary German history.

384 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2018

About the author

Peter C. Caldwell is Samuel G. McCann Professor of History at Rice University, USA. Professor Caldwell is a Humboldt Fellow, and has received grants from the DAAD and the Humboldt Foundation, as well as a residential fellowship at the Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University, USA. He is the author of Popular Sovereignty and the Crisis of German Constitutional Law: The Theory and Practice of Weimar Constitutionalism (1997), Dictatorship, State Planning, and Social Theory in the German Democratic Republic (2003) and Love, Death, and Revolution in Central Europe (2009).

Reviews

[Oishe Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's sad that under different circumstances (ones where i wasn't been held at gunpoint by an exam on 20th century Germany) i may have found this much more interesting and enjoyable. the writing is accessible and it's organized in a very intuitive way that makes it easy enough to get through.

alas i do have an exam so. reading it kind of sucked despite it being a strong, broad study of post-war germany's political, cultural, and societal development

[Reko Wenell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps not the most exciting book but it’s written pleasantly enough to not feel like a chore. It obviously can’t go to depth but I felt it mostly succeeded with going to enough depth to make its points memorable and leave me with an understanding and a framework for the covered eras of German history. I really did learn so much that I can safely say this book delivered exactly what I wanted.

[Ally Godsil]

Shoutout Dr. Caldwell for an informative book