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BEST BOOKS TO UNDERSTAND XX CENTURY'S HISTORY

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By Subject: History: 20th Century to Present

View: by date | alphabetical | ebooks | paperbacks.

200 Years of Peace

New perspectives on modern swedish foreign policy, biltekin, n., müller, l., & petersson, m. (eds).

In the wake of Sweden’s anniversary of 200 years of peace in 2014, this volume brings for the first time a targeted approach to the concept of claimed Swedish exceptionality. Taking on the nation’s policies of neutrality, 200 Years of Peace centers discussion around what it means for a nation to endure a uniquely long period of time without any pronounced conflict.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Peace and Conflict Studies

The Aesthetics of Rule and Resistance

Analyzing political street art in latin america, bogerts, l..

Through illuminating case studies of street art in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Caracas, and Mexico City, The Aesthetics of Rule and Resistance explores the visual strategies of persuasion and meaning-making employed by both rulers and resisters to foster self-legitimization, identification, and mobilization.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Urban Studies Cultural Studies (General)

After Auschwitz

The difficult legacies of the gdr, heitzer, e., jander, m., kahane, a., & poutrus, p. g. (eds).

This provocative collection reflects on the heretofore ignored or repressed aspects of German mainstream society—including right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and racism—to call for an ambitious renewal of historical research and political education to place East Germany in its proper historical context.

Subject: History: 20th Century to Present

After the 'Socialist Spring'

Collectivisation and economic transformation in the gdr, subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present.

After Unity

Reconfiguring german identities, jarausch, k. h. (ed).

Against the Grain

Jewish intellectuals in hard times, mendelsohn, e., hoffman, s., & cohen, r. (eds), subjects: jewish studies history: 20th century to present.

The Age of Capitalism and Bureaucracy

Perspectives on the political sociology of max weber, mommsen, w. j..

In this new edition of Wolfgang Mommsen’s illuminating study, Max Weber is presented in terms of the major questions that preoccupied him as one of the towering social scientists of his time, with insights that are persistently relevant as we deal with the structures and dynamics of modern industrial societies.

Subjects: Sociology History: 20th Century to Present

Alien Policy in Belgium, 1840-1940

The creation of guest workers, refugees and illegal aliens, caestecker, f., subjects: history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present refugee and migration studies.

Alienating Labour

Workers on the road from socialism to capitalism in east germany and hungary, subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present sociology.

Ambassadors of Realpolitik

Sweden, the csce and the cold war.

This groundbreaking study looks at the tension between realism and idealism in Swedish diplomacy during the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and 1975 Helsinki Accords. It offers a compelling counternarrative of this period, showing that Sweden strategically ignored human rights violations in Eastern Europe in its pursuit of national interests.

Ambiguous Transitions

Gender, the state, and everyday life in socialist and postsocialist romania, massino, j..

Ambiguous Transitions provides an accessible, intimate exploration of gender and citizenship in socialist Romania. Author Jill M. Massino connects women’s everyday lives to larger political, economic, and social processes, challenging conventional understandings of life in socialist Romania as uniformly oppressive.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Gender Studies and Sexuality

The Ambivalent Alliance

Konrad adenauer, the cdu/csu, and the west, 1949-1966, granieri, r..

The American Impact on Postwar Germany

Pommerin, r. (ed), subjects: history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

Americanization and Anti-americanism

The german encounter with american culture after 1945, stephan, a. (ed).

The Americanization of Europe

Culture, diplomacy, and anti-americanism after 1945, stephan, a (ed).

Anarchism, Revolution and Reaction

Catalan labor and the crisis of the spanish state, 1898-1923, subjects: history: 20th century to present sociology political and economic anthropology.

Anglo-American Relations and the Transmission of Ideas

A shared political tradition, dobson, a. & marsh, s. (eds).

With a central objective to interrogate the notion of a shared Anglo-American political tradition, Anglo-American Relations and the Transmission of Ideas opens up new debate on the nature of the ‘first principles’ that were to frame the development of Anglo-American ideas embedded in our everyday institutions and organizations.

Anti-liberal Europe

A neglected story of europeanization, gosewinkel, d. (ed).

The history of modern Europe is often presented with the hindsight of present-day European integration, which was a genuinely liberal project based on political and economic freedom. Many other visions for Europe developed in the 20th century, however, were based on an idea of community rooted in pre-modern religious ideas, cultural or ethnic homogeneity, or even in coercion and violence. Anti-liberal Europe examines these visions, including those of anti-modernist Catholics, conservatives, extreme rightists as well as communists, arguing that antiliberal concepts in 20th century Europe were not the counterpart to, but instead part of the process of European integration.

The Armenian Genocide

Evidence from the german foreign office archives, 1915-1916, gust, w. (ed).

The 1915-1916 annihilation of the Armenians was the archetype of modern genocide, in which a state adopts a specific scheme geared to the destruction of an identifiable group of its own citizens. Official German diplomatic documents are of great importance in understanding the genocide, as only Germany had the right to report day-by-day in secret code about the ongoing genocide. The motives, methods, and after-effects of the Armenian Genocide echoed strongly in subsequent cases of state-sponsored genocide. Studying the factors that went into the Armenian Genocide not only gives us an understanding of historical genocide, but also provides us with crucial information for the anticipation and possible prevention of future genocides.

Subjects: Genocide History History: 20th Century to Present

The Art of Resistance

Cultural protest against the austrian far right in the early twenty-first century, fiddler, a..

The 1999 Austrian election results produced an uprising against a turn to the political right. The Art of Resistance examines artworks created in responses to the Freedom Party of Austria and analyses the styles and strategies deployed by a large range of artists who clashed against increased normalization of far-right thinking.

At Home in Postwar France

Modern mass housing and the right to comfort, rudolph, n. c..

After World War II, France embarked on a national project of modernization, which included the development of mass housing. At Home in Postwar France reveals how modernizers saw the home as a site for social engineering and nation-building, and identifies the emergence of a “right to comfort” that shaped new expectations for well-being.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Urban Studies

At the Edge of the Wall

Public and private spheres in divided berlin, hochmuth, h..

The neighboring boroughs of Friedrichschain and Kreuzberg shared a history and identity until their fortunes diverged dramatically following the construction of the Berlin Wall, which placed them within opposing political systems. This revealing account of the two towns during and after the Cold War takes a microhistorical approach to illuminate the broader historical trajectories of East and West Berlin.

Atlantic Automobilism

Emergence and persistence of the car, 1895-1940.

Offering a sweeping transatlantic perspective, this book explains the current obsession with automobiles by delving deep into the motives of early car users. It provides a synthesis of our knowledge about the emergence and persistence of the car, using a broad range of material including novels, poems, films, and songs to unearth the desires that shaped our present “car society.”

Subjects: Mobility Studies History: 20th Century to Present Transport Studies

Austria, Germany, and the Cold War

From the anschluss to the state treaty, 1938-1955, steininger, r..

Basic and Applied Research

The language of science policy in the twentieth century, kaldewey, d. & schauz, d. (eds).

Basic and Applied Research traces the conceptual history of the distinction between basic and applied research to its origins in nineteenth-century Europe, explores its role in different ideological contexts after World War II, and ultimately provides valuable insights into present-day EU research policy.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

Becoming a Subject

Political prisoners during the greek civil war, 1945-1950.

Becoming East German

Socialist structures and sensibilities after hitler, fulbrook, m. & port, a. i. (eds).

“This is an excellent edited collection. It provides a range of methodological approaches and is right up to date: it introduces a number of new academics onto the scene while also providing some old favourites. The volume significantly adds to our understanding of East Germany and its population. It provides a reassessment of antifascism and memory... Port’s introduction and Fulbrook’s chapter on memory are masterful.”  ·  Mark Fenemore , Manchester Metropolitan University

Berlin Divided City, 1945-1989

Broadbent, p. & hake, s. (eds), subjects: urban studies history: 20th century to present.

Bestsellers of the Third Reich

Readers, writers and the politics of literature.

Christian Adam examines how books came into being under the Nazis, how they became bestsellers—sometimes against the will of the rulers—and which books were actually read. He writes the history of the bestsellers in the darkest epoch of the German past, thus opening a new perspective on the mentality of the Germans between 1933 and 1945.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Literary Studies

Between Bombs and Good Intentions

The international committee of the red cross (icrc) and the italo-ethiopian war, 1935-1936, baudendistel, r..

Between Empire and Continent

British foreign policy before the first world war.

Historians have commonly interpreted Britain’s attempts to break through older alliances of European states before World War I as a reaction to aggressive German foreign policy. This groundbreaking political history demonstrates that British strategy instead arose from the complex interplay of national, continental and imperial considerations.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: World War I

Between Left and Right

The 2009 bundestag elections and the transformation of the german party system, langenbacher, e. (ed).

Between Marx and Coca-Cola

Youth cultures in changing european societies, 1960-1980, schildt, a. & siegfried, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general) media studies sociology.

Between Mass Death and Individual Loss

The place of the dead in twentieth-century germany, confino, a., betts, p. & schumann, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general) sociology.

Between Prague Spring and French May

Opposition and revolt in europe, 1960-1980, klimke, m., pekelder, j. & scharloth, j. (eds).

Between the Avant-garde and the Everyday

Subversive politics in europe from 1957 to the present, brown, t. & anton, l. (eds).

Between Tradition and Modernity

Aby warburg and the public purposes of art in hamburg, russell, m. a..

Between Utopia and Disillusionment

A narrative of the political transformation in eastern europe.

Between Yesterday and Tomorrow

German visions of europe, 1926-1950.

Beyond 1989

Re-reading german literature since 1945, bullivant, k. (ed).

Beyond Alterity

German encounters with modern east asia, shen, q. & rosenstock, m. (eds).

This collection of essays examines German-language cultural production pertaining to modern China and Japan, and explicitly challenges orientalist notions by proposing a conception of East and West not as opposites, but as complementary elements of global culture, thereby urging a move beyond national paradigms in cultural studies. Essays focus on the mid-century German-Japanese alliance, Chinese-German Leftist collaborations, global capitalism, travel, identity, and cultural hybridity. The authors include historians and scholars of film and literature, and employ a wide array of approaches from postcolonial, globalization, media, and gender studies. The collection sheds new light on a complex and ambivalentset of international relationships, while also testifying to the potential of Asian German Studies.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians'

Asymmetrical concepts in european discourse, postoutenko, k. (ed).

Surveying a variety of significant asymmetrical conceptualizations, Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians' extends our current breadth of understanding of how ascriptive terms such as ‘civilization’ vs. ‘barbarity,’ or ‘order’ vs. ‘chaos’ functioned and continue to function in political, scientific, and fictional discourses.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century History: Medieval/Early Modern

Beyond Inclusion and Exclusion

Jewish experiences of the first world war in central europe, crouthamel, j., geheran, m., grady, t., & köhne, j. b. (eds).

Beyond Inclusion and Exclusion recaptures the multifariousness of Central European Jewish life through the experiences of both soldiers and civilians during World War I. This collection explores rare sources and employs novel interdisciplinary methods to illuminate four interconnected themes: minorities and the meaning of military service, Jewish-Gentile relations, the cultural legacy of the war, and memory politics.

Subjects: Jewish Studies History: World War I History: 20th Century to Present

Beyond Posthumanism

The german humanist tradition and the future of the humanities.

Against the background of debates about a revival of humanist values, this volume seeks to recast the question of the viability of the humanities by analyzing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. It emphasizes the importance of the humanities’ original mission of establishing a universal ethics by contextualizing disciplinary knowledge and making human experiences, bodily sensations, and emotions comprehensible through literary imagination.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Educational Studies

Beyond the Border

Young minorities in the danish-german borderlands, 1955-1971, wung-sung, t. h..

Beyond the Border reconstructs the experiences of minority youths living in the Danish-German borderlands from the 1950s to the 1970s. Drawing on a remarkable variety of archival and oral sources, author Tobias Haimin Wung-Sung provides a rich and fine-grained analysis that encompasses political issues from the NATO alliance and European integration to everyday life and popular culture.

Beyond the Divide

Entangled histories of cold war europe, mikkonen, s. & koivunen, p. (eds).

Cold War history has emphasized the division of Europe into two warring camps with separate ideologies and little in common. This volume presents an alternative perspective by suggesting that there were transnational networks bridging the gap and connecting like-minded people on both sides of the divide.

Bittersweet Europe

Albanian and georgian discourses on europe, 1878-2008, subjects: history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present.

Borders in East and West

Transnational and comparative perspectives, berger, s. & hashimoto, n. (eds).

The different ways of understanding borders, through culture, politics, or even religion, is transforming and requires multi-disciplinary approaches the complexity of interactions and tensions that may arise. Borders in East and West focuses on the relationships between Europe and East Asia through comparative case studies to challenge discourses and build new perspectives.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century Colonial History

Brewing Socialism

Coffee, east germans, and twentieth-century globalization, kloiber, a..

Taking an uncommonly focused lens against the deep and active role coffee had in connecting East Germans to a global market, Brewing Socialism uncovers the significance of East German efforts to democratize coffee and how that focus on material cultural informed the everyday life of the Social Unity Party’s conceptualization of a modern social utopia.

Bringing Culture to the Masses

Control, compromise and participation in the gdr, richthofen, e. von.

Building a European Identity

France, the united states, and the oil shock, 1973-74, gfeller, a. e..

The Burden of German History

A transatlantic life, jarausch, k. h..

The Burden of Germany History is Konrad H Jarausch’s much anticipated transatlantic autobiography set against the development and transformation of German studies over the past half-century. Using his life story, Jarausch’s concurrent life in the US and Germany brings us a self-critical historiography of a twentieth-century Germany that was wrestling with the responsibility for war and genocide.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Genocide History History: World War II

Bureaucracy, Work and Violence

The reich ministry of labour in nazi germany, 1933–1945, nützenadel, a. (ed).

In Bureaucracy, Work and Violence , the Reich Ministry of Labor is for the first time systematically illuminated as the bureaucratic arm responsible for the implementation of the National Socialist work doctrine. Historians reveal through pioneering research that the classical administrative apparatuses were far more involved in the Nazi regime and its crimes than has long been suspected.  

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Genocide History

Business and Industry in Nazi Germany

Nicosia, f.r. & huener, j. (eds), subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present genocide history.

Celebrating Ethnicity and Nation

American festive culture from the revolution to the early 20th century, heideking, j., fabre, g. & dreisbach, k. (eds).

Centennial Fever

Transnational hispanic commemorations and spanish nationalism, moreno-luzón, j..

Hispanic commemorations that shaped the major elements of Spanish identity at the beginning of the 20th century, and their persistence to the present day, from the “discovery” of America to the publication of Don Quixote of la Mancha , are truly global and transnational events that have created a cultural community on which Spanish nationalism has become dependent.

The Center-Left's Poisoned Victory

Briquet, j.-l., & mastropaolo, a. (eds).

The Challenge of Globalization for Germany's Social Democracy

A policy agenda for the 21st century, dettke, d. (ed).

The Chameleon State

Global culture and policy shifts in britain and germany, 1914-1933.

Changing Cultural Tastes

Writers and the popular in modern germany, subjects: literary studies history: 20th century to present.

The Changing Meanings of the Welfare State

Histories of a key concept in the nordic countries, edling, n. (ed).

The Nordic concept of “the welfare state” is a well-worn analytical idea that has yet to receive much exploration beyond its postwar emergence. This volume chronicles “the welfare state” from its historical origins to its interpretations, values, and challenges over time in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland.

Subjects: History (General) History: 20th Century to Present Political and Economic Anthropology Sociology

Changing Perceptions of the Public Sphere

Emden, c. j. & midgley, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general) political and economic anthropology.

Changing the World, Changing Oneself

Political protest and collective identities in west germany and the u.s. in the 1960s and 1970s, davis, b., mausbach, w., klimke, m. & macdougall, c. (eds).

Charismatic Leadership and Social Movements

The revolutionary power of ordinary men and women, stutje, j. w. (ed).

The Chernobyl Effect

Antinuclear protests and the molding of polish democracy, 1986–1990, szulecki, k., waluszko, j., & borewicz, t..

Empirically rich, The Chernobyl Effect shows how the Chernobyl catastrophe sparked a new kind of protest against the communist authorities of Poland. Drawing on samizdat, archival sources, and open-ended interviews with participants the authors show how a qualitatively new phenomenon was created on the opposition scene and challenge the dominant narrative of the Cold War’s end.

Senior Academic Appointments in Antipodean Anthropology, 1920–1960

Gray, g., munro, d. & winter, c..

Academic appointments can bring forth unexpected and unforeseen contests and tensions, cause humiliation and embarrassment for unsuccessful applicants and reveal unexpected allies and enemies. Chicanery deals with how the founding Chairs at Sydney, the Australian National University, Auckland and Western Australia dealt with this process.

Subjects: Anthropology (General) History: 20th Century to Present Theory and Methodology

Children of the Dictatorship

Student resistance, cultural politics and the 'long 1960s' in greece, kornetis, k..

Cinema in Service of the State

Perspectives on film culture in the gdr and czechoslovakia, 1945-1960, karl, l. & skopal, p. (eds).

Despite being two key sites for filmmaking in the Soviet bloc, the national cinemas of Czechoslovakia and East Germany have received comparatively little attention from scholars. This volume comprehensively explores these film cultures using a “stereoscopic” approach that traces their similarities and divergences to form a multifaceted, richly contextualized portrait.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Cinema of Collaboration

Defa coproductions and international exchange in cold war europe, ivanova, m..

Almost from their very inception, European cinemas frequently undertook collaborative ventures in an attempt to cultivate a transnational “Film-Europe.” And despite the significant obstacles that the East/West divide presented to achieving that ideal, in the postwar era it was DEFA, the state cinema of the newly created East Germany, that emerged as one of the primary sites where these practices persisted.

Citizens into Dishonored Felons

Felony disenfranchisement, honor, and rehabilitation in germany, 1806-1933, de groot, t..

Throughout the long nineteenth century felony disenfranchisement affected the moral fabric of German society and coincided with a history of honor in German legal thought. Citizens into Dishonored Felons uses uncommonly extensive archival materials to address the emotional and symbolic impact of punishment as both an enforcement of societal hierarchies and a platform for reform.

Class and Other Identities

Gender, religion, and ethnicity in the writing of european labour history, voss, l. heerma van & linden, m. van der (eds), subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present gender studies and sexuality.

Cold War Cultures

Perspectives on eastern and western european societies, vowinckel, a., payk, m. m., & lindenberger, t. (eds).

Colonial Seeds in African Soil

A critical history of forest conservation in sierra leone.

Drawing upon the fields of environmental history and political ecology, Colonial Seeds in African Soil unravels the complex forest conservation history of Sierra Leone during the 20th century. It grounds a broader trans-national history of Empire Forestry with a case study focused on Sierra Leone, examining how colonial ideas shaped forest conservation in West Africa.

Subjects: Environmental Studies (General) Colonial History History: 20th Century to Present

Coming Home to Germany?

The integration of ethnic germans from central and eastern europe in the federal republic since 1945, rock, d. & wolff, s. (eds), subjects: refugee and migration studies history: 20th century to present.

Coming of Age

Constructing and controlling youth in munich, 1942-1973.

In the years following World War II, Munich society became obsessed with the hypothetical threat that youths posed to postwar stability. This fascinating study shows that constructs like the rowdy young male and the sexually deviant girl served as proxies for the anxieties of adult society, while allowing authorities to expand social control.

Common Destiny

A comparative history of the dutch, french, and german social democratic parties, 1945-1969.

Communist Parties Revisited

Sociocultural approaches to party rule in the soviet bloc, 1956-1991, bergien, r. & gieseke, j. (eds).

Drawing from perspectives from within the everyday life of basic organizations and the practices of the party apparatuses, Communist Parties Revisited sheds light on the inner workings the Eastern Bloc, and the effects of state socialist policy on a micro historical level.

Comparative and Transnational History

Central european approaches and new perspectives, haupt, h. & kocka, j. (eds).

Compensation in Practice

The foundation 'remembrance, responsibility and future' and the legacy of forced labour during the third reich, goschler, c. (ed).

The German Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” is one of the largest transitional justice initiatives in history. This volume provides an unparalleled look at its creation, operations, and future prospects, bringing together the work of historians who were granted unrestricted access to its records, and offering nuanced, clear-eyed analysis of its successes and missteps.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: World War II

Comrades in Arms

Military masculinities in east german culture.

Without question, the East German National People’s Army sought to exemplify traditional masculine ideals of stoicism, sacrifice, and physical courage. Yet depictions of the military in East German film and literature were far more nuanced and ambivalent. Comrades in Arms shows how cultural works have portrayed violence, vulnerability, military theatricality, and a range of masculinities.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) Gender Studies and Sexuality History: 20th Century to Present

Comrades of Color

East germany in the cold war world, slobodian, q. (ed).

The political culture of the German Democratic Republic strongly emphasized solidarity with the non-white world, from contributions to relief efforts in Vietnam to public memorials for Ho Chi Minh and Martin Luther King, Jr. Through a series of illuminating historical investigations, this volume traces the contours of East German internationalism.

Concentrationary Art

Jean cayrol, the lazarean and the everyday in post-war film, literature, music and the visual arts, pollock, g. & silverman, m. (eds).

The seminal work of Jean Cayrol has experienced a revival in the French-speaking world since his death in 2005. Concentrationary Art represents the first translation into English of Cayrol’s two essays on concentrationary art, as well as the first book-length study of his theory.

Subjects: Literary Studies Film and Television Studies History: 20th Century to Present Memory Studies

The Configuration of the Spanish Public Sphere

From the enlightenment to the indignados, jiménez torres, d. & villamediana gonzález, l. (eds).

This volume brings together leading scholars in Spanish and Latin American studies to explore the concept of the Spanish “public sphere” and its relation to society and political power over time. It offers a long-term, panoramic view—spanning from the Enlightenment to current developments in the EU—on one of the most urgent issues for contemporary European societies.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

Conflict, Catastrophe and Continuity

Essays on modern german history, biess, f., roseman, m. & schissler, h. (eds).

Conflicted Memories

Europeanizing contemporary histories, jarausch, k. h. & lindenberger, t. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present memory studies.

Conservative Radicalism

A sociology of conservative party youth structures and libertarianism 1970-1992.

The 'Conservative Revolutionaries'

The protestant and catholic churches in germany after radical political change in the 1990s, thériault, b..

Constructing Industrial Pasts

Heritage, historical culture and identity in regions undergoing structural economic transformation, berger, s. (ed).

The contributions in this volume demonstrate that even as forms of industrial heritage provide anchors of identity for local populations, their meanings remain deeply contested, as both radical and conservative varieties of nostalgia intermingle with critical approaches as well as straightforward apologias for a past that was often full of pain, exploitation and struggle.

Subject: History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Heritage Studies

Constructing Nationalities in East Central Europe

Judson, p. & rozenblit, m. (eds).

Contested Femininities

Representations of modern women in the german illustrated press, 1920-1960.

Contested Femininities for the first time contributes a long-view study of constructions of the Neue or Moderne Frau (New or Modern Woman) in the illustrated press providing an incredible scope of inquiry spanning the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, post-war occupation, and a divided German.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Gender Studies and Sexuality Media Studies

Contesting Deregulation

Debates, practices and developments in the west since the 1970s, andresen, k. and müller, s. (eds).

Across thirteen case studies, this volume investigates the 1970s/80s “deregulatory moment” from a variety of historical perspectives, including transnational, comparative, pan-European, and national approaches. Collectively, they challenge an interpretive framework that treats individual decades in isolation and ignores broader trends that extend to the end of the Second World War.

Subjects: History (General) Political and Economic Anthropology History: 20th Century to Present

Continental Britons

German-jewish refugees from nazi germany, berghahn, m., subjects: jewish studies refugee and migration studies history: 20th century to present sociology.

Continental Transfers

Cultural and political exchange among spain, italy and argentina, 1914-1945, fuentes codera, m. & dogliani, p. (eds).

The cultural and political connections between Spain, Italy and Argentina developed complex transnational transfers over the course of two World Wars. Bringing together scholars from all three nations, Continental Transfers configures a multidirectional approach to the nations’ reciprocal exchange using new theoretical ground to understand the development links to the construction of national and supranational identities, such as Latinism and Hispanism.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: World War I History: World War II

Coping with the Nazi Past

West german debates on nazism and generational conflict, 1955-1975, gassert, p. & steinweis, a. e. (eds).

Coproducing Europe

An ethnography of film markets, creativity and identity.

By focusing on regional film markets in Thessasloniki, Sarajevo, and Tbilisi, Coproduction Europe uses comparative ethnography to look beyond the economic nature of film coproductions to explore their role in Europeanisation, memories of the Cold War, and preconstructed political agendas.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

The Council on Foreign Relations and American Policy in the Early Cold War

Creating Wilderness

A transnational history of the swiss national park.

The history of the Swiss National Park, from its creation in the years before the Great War to the present, is told for the first time in this book. The Swiss park became the prime example of a “scientific national park,” thereby influencing the course of national parks worldwide. Creating Wilderness consequently situates the park’s fascinating history within a transnational conservation framework.

“ This is environmental history of the first order, ranging widely across geographical scales and historical periods to trace the changing discourses and manifestations of the national park model. ”  ·  Andrew Denning , Western Washington University

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Environmental Studies (General)

The Creation of the Modern German Army

General walther reinhardt and the weimar republic, 1914-1930, mulligan, w..

Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern Germany

Wetzell, r. f. (ed).

Crime Stories

Criminalistic fantasy and the culture of crisis in weimar germany, subjects: history: 20th century to present literary studies film and television studies sociology.

Crises in European Integration

Challenges and responses, 1945-2005, kuehnhardt, l. (ed).

Crisis and Renewal in France, 1918-1962

Mouré, k. & alexander, m. s. (eds).

The Crisis of the German Left

The pds, stalinism and the global economy, thompson, p..

Critical Junctions

Anthropology and history beyond the cultural turn, kalb, d. & tak, h. (eds), subjects: theory and methodology history: 20th century to present.

Crossing the Aegean

An appraisal of the 1923 compulsory population exchange between greece and turkey, hirschon, r. (ed).

The CSCE and the End of the Cold War

Diplomacy, societies and human rights, 1972-1990, badalassi, n. & snyder, s. b. (eds).

Since its inception over forty years ago, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe has been met with political and historical controversies. While it’s known today as a significant contributor to the end of the Cold War, The CSCE and the End of the Cold War revisits some of the most fascinating questions in Cold War historiography.

Cultural Encounters

European travel writing in the 1930s, burdett, c. & duncan, d. (eds).

Cultural Topographies of the New Berlin

Bauer, k. & hosek, j. r. (eds).

Transformed by the Wall's opening in 1989 and the concomitant shift in global relations of power, Berlin continues to shape historical and contemporary images of Germanness. This interdisciplinary anthology explores Berlin's unique cultural topographies in literature, film, architecture, urban planning, and city marketing.

Subjects: Urban Studies Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

Culture and Crisis

The case of germany and sweden, witoszek, n. & trägårdh, l. (eds).

Culture in Dark Times

Nazi fascism, inner emigration, and exile, hermand, j..

Cultures of Abortion in Weimar Germany

Usborne, c., subjects: history: 20th century to present gender studies and sexuality medical anthropology.

Death in East Germany, 1945-1990

Schulz, f. r..

“ Felix Robin Schulz’s insightful and thoroughly researched book makes a significant contribution to the growing scholarship on the history of East Germany. It is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive study of sepulchral culture in the GDR. Schulz is to be strongly commended for his extensive archival research in Berlin and in a number of city archives. He also visited numerous sites personally, which lends him a further layer of authority over his subject matter and allows him to make observations on how quickly certain spatial elements of socialist sepulchral culture are disappearing .”  ·  Heléna Tóth, Ludwig Maximilians Universität, Munich

Death of the Father

An anthropology of the end in political authority, borneman, j. (ed), subjects: anthropology (general) history: 20th century to present memory studies.

The Decisionist Imagination

Sovereignty, social science and democracy in the 20th century, bessner, d. & guilhot, n. (eds).

The Decisionist Imagination explores the relationship between the key concept of “decisionism,” as it emerged from 1920s political theory, and the postwar development of formal decision theory when sovereign decision-making became an object of scientific inquiry in a new cultural, institutional, and international landscape.

The Decolonial Mandela

Peace, justice and the politics of life, ndlovu-gatsheni, s..

This concise, forcefully argued volume lays out a groundbreaking interpretation of the “Mandela phenomenon.” Contrary to a neoliberal social model that privileges adversarial criminal justice and a rationalistic approach to warmaking, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni elevates transformative political justice and a pluriversal vision of society as key features of Nelson Mandela’s legacy.

East German Cinema 1946-1992

Allan, s. & sandford, j. (eds).

Defeating Impunity

Attempts at international justice in europe since 1914, rovetta, o. & lagrou, p. (eds).

Over the course of the long and violent twentieth century, only a minority of the perpetrators of international crimes ever stood trial. In analyzing and documenting the challenge addressing that status of international justice and its realization, this collection uses an international perspective to take the reader through both little known and prominent trials.

Democracy in Europe

Legitimising politics in a non-state polity, abromeit, h..

Democracy in Modern Europe

A conceptual history, kurunmäki, j., nevers, j., & te velde, h. (eds).

As one of the most influential ideas in modern European history, democracy has reshaped not only the landscape of government, but also fundamental social and political thought on a global level. Democracy in Modern Europe covers the history of democracy in modern Europe.

Demonstrating Reconciliation

State and society in west german foreign policy toward israel, 1952-1965, hindenburg, h. von.

Designing Worlds

National design histories in an age of globalization, fallan, k. & lees-maffei, g. (eds).

In design history, globalization is deeply intertwined with a long-held bias towards Western, industrialized nations. By reassessing the role of regional and national design histories and challenging the claim that nation states are obsolete in identity construction, Designing Worlds reflects on new national narratives from around the world.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies

Desires for Reality

Radicalism and revolution in western european film, halligan, b..

This is a fresh and groundbreaking account of the innovations and provocations of the “cinema of 1968,” and its social and aesthetic contexts. Benjamin Halligan offers a genuinely fresh analysis of films reflecting the cultural upheaval of youth in revolt—cinema that did not merely entertain, but was made the barricades.

Destination London

German-speaking emigrés and british cinema, 1925-1950, bergfelder, t. & cargnelli, c. (eds), subjects: film and television studies refugee and migration studies history: 20th century to present.

The Devil's Wheels

Men and motorcycling in the weimar republic.

During the unprecedented modernization of Germany’s Weimar Republic, motorcycle culture instantiated the new link between consumption and identity. Motorcycles became symbols of masculinity and freedom that exposed the problems and allures of mass-consumption and modern values. The Devil’s Wheels analyzes motorcycle culture, and reassesses mechanized life in Weimar Germany.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Gender Studies and Sexuality Transport Studies

Diamonds and War

State, capital, and labor in british-ruled palestine, de vries, d..

The Diary of Lt. Melvin J. Lasky

Into germany at the end of world war ii, lerg, c. a. (ed.).

The Diary of Lt. Melvin J. Lasky reproduces and critically examines Melvin J. Lasky’s diary, which expounds intense and insightful notes on German realities following the aftermath of World War Two and the ideological conflicts between the East and West.

Subjects: History: World War II History: 20th Century to Present Literary Studies

Dictatorship as Experience

Towards a socio-cultural history of the gdr, jarausch, k. (ed).

Different from the Others

German and dutch discourses of queer femininity and female desire, 1918–1940, sturgess, c..

Presenting for the first time a comparative and socio-cultural history of queer femininities in Germany and the Netherlands for an English-speaking audience, Different from the Others highlights this submerged history and engages queer authors and activists from the Netherlands to challenge and redress conceptualizations of queer femininity in the interwar period.

Subjects: Gender Studies and Sexuality History: World War I History: 20th Century to Present

Different Germans, Many Germanies

New transatlantic perspectives, jarausch, k. h., wenzel, h., & goihl, k. (eds).

For Anglo-American observers in particular, the legacies of two world wars still powerfully define twentieth-century German history. This volume collects insightful studies from leading scholars that suggest new ways for understanding Germany from a transatlantic perspective, arguing above all for a more nuanced, self-reflective, and holistic German Studies.

Disrupted Landscapes

State, peasants and the politics of land in postsocialist romania, dorondel, s..

The fall of the Soviet Union led not only to new regimes of ownership and development but to dramatic changes in the landscape itself. This study focuses on the emblematic case of postsocialist Romania, in which the transition from collectivization to privatization profoundly reshaped the nation’s forests, farmlands, and rivers.

Subjects: Environmental Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

Divided, But Not Disconnected

German experiences of the cold war, hochscherf, t., laucht, c. & plowman, a. (eds).

Don't Need No Thought Control

Western culture in east germany and the fall of the berlin wall.

Don't Need No Thought Control explores the dynamic interplay between popular demands, intensifying economic crises, and cultural policy decisions during the Erich Honecker era in a comprehensive and comparative analysis.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies Cultural Studies (General) Film and Television Studies

A Dramatic Reinvention

German television and moral renewal after national socialism, 1956–1970, anderson, s..

A Dramatic Revinvention sheds new light on how Germans rebuilt their moral and intellectual world after the Nazi catastrophe. The book argues that television emerged as one of the most important mediums for presenting, discussing, and working through the question of how to re-moralize Germany.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Film and Television Studies Media Studies

Driving Germany

The landscape of the german autobahn, 1930-1970, subjects: transport studies history: 20th century to present mobility studies environmental studies (general).

Driving Modernity

Technology, experts, politics, and fascist motorways, 1922-1943, moraglio, m..

Driving Modernity recounts the history of the first Italian motorway, which—alongside railways and aviation—Italian authorities hoped would spread an ideology of technological nationalism. It explains how Italy ultimately failed to realize its mammoth infrastructural vision, addressing the political and social conditions that made a coherent plan of development impossible.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Mobility Studies Transport Studies

Dynamics of Emigration

Émigré scholars and the production of historical knowledge in the 20th century, berger, s. & müller, p. (eds).

In the dictatorships of the twentieth century, historians have frequently been exiled from both fascist and communist regimes. This book discusses the experience of exile and asks why some of them were successful in establishing themselves in their new host countries while others failed.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Refugee and Migration Studies

The Dynamics of German Industry

Germany's path toward the new economy and the american challenge, abelshauser, w..

Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Contemporary Europe

Langenbacher, e., niven, b., & wittlinger, r. (eds).

East German Film and the Holocaust

By combining close analyses of five films made between 1947 and 1988 with extensive archival research, this book unravels the complex status of films dealing with Jewish persecution produced in a country that consistently privileged narratives of political persecution above racial victimhood.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies Genocide History History: 20th Century to Present

The East German State and the Catholic Church, 1945-1989

Schaefer, b..

Eastern Europe Unmapped

Beyond borders and peripheries, kacandes, i. & komska, y. (eds).

Arguably more than any other world regions, the area known as Eastern Europe has been defined by its location on the map. Rather than expound on borders and neighbors, Eastern Europe Unmapped raises questions about the meaning and relevance of the area’s non-contiguous, frequently global or extraterritorial, entanglements.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Literary Studies

Echoes of Surrealism

Challenging socialist realism in east german literature, 1945–1990, berendse, g.-j..

Echoes of Surrealism surveys areas of surrealist art throughout the entire lifespan of the GDR and explores analyses of the interaction and reciprocal influences of various art forms. Focusing on individual authors, visual artists, film directors and musicians who have taken a surrealist perspective in their work, this study reveals how the surrealist perspective offered an alternative to the rigid government cultural policies by questioning and confronting the status quo.

The Economic Diplomacy of Ostpolitik

Origins of nato's energy dilemma, lippert, w. d..

Edges of Noir

Extreme filmmaking in the 1960s, mirabile, m..

Edges of Noir addresses film studies’ neglect of 1960s experimental noir films that have resisted easy classification against more popularly regarded late noir films and responds to the interpretive dilemmas and anxieties of the time to which the films provided expression.

Embers of Empire

Continuity and rupture in the habsburg successor states after 1918, miller, p. & morelon, c. (eds).

The end of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy radically reshaped the political structures and national identity of East-Central Europe. Embers of Empire focuses on this complex and disruptive transition and sheds new light on the efficacity of imperial institutions, as well as the sources for instability in the newly formed nations.

Emerging Themes and Institutional Responses

Caciagli, m. & zuckerman, a.s. (eds).

Empire of Pictures

Global media and the 1960s remaking of american foreign policy.

The 1960s were a period of global media revolution: communication satellites compressed time and space, television spread around the world, and images circulated through print media in expanding ways. This book examines how U.S. policymakers exploited these changes.

Subjects: Media Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Enchanted by Cinema

William thiele between vienna, berlin and hollywood, horak, j.-c. & seyfert, a.-b. (eds).

Enchanted by Cinema explores the films of the European music film pioneer William Thiele, as well as his career as an exile in Hollywood. Examining a wide range of the director’s filmography, the contributors address a variety of political, aesthetic and cross-cultural issues.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies History: 20th Century to Present Jewish Studies

Encounters with Modernity

The catholic church in west germany, 1945-1975, ziemann, b..

“ This is a fascinating study of the interrelatedness of processes of secularization and the increased adoption of social science methods and theories by the Catholic Church (…). Ziemann has written a case study of an important institution, the Catholic Church, and its attempts to modernize its institution and outlook within a rapidly modernizing society in the postwar Federal Republic. It will be read with great interest by anyone interested in such processes of modernization .”  ·  German History

The 1989 Revolution in East Germany

Kowalczuk, i.-s..

Focusing on major shifts in East Germany leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall, End Game accounts for everyday life from the autumn of 1989 to the first free elections in March of 1990. With an understanding of the events of 1989 as a citizens’ movement as a whole, the volume contextualizes the societal reactions to a nation’s large scale political changes.

The End of the Berlusconi Era?

Amyot, g., & verzichelli, l. (eds).

Enemy Images in American History

Fiebig-von hase, r. & lehmkuhl, u. (eds).

Entangled Entertainers

Jews and popular culture in fin-de-siècle vienna.

Viennese popular culture at the turn of the twentieth century was shaped jointly by Jews and non-Jews alike, though their relationship was not immune to bouts of anti-Semitism. The case studies in this book provide new findings in understanding what it meant to be Jewish among artists, performers and impresarios at the turn of the twentieth century.

Subjects: Jewish Studies History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General)

Environing Empire

Nature, infrastructure and the making of german southwest africa.

Between the infamous Benguela Current and the Namib Desert, nature significantly effected the progression of German imperialism and the creation of German Southwest Africa. Environing Empire reveals the environmental infrastructures that defined not only the culture of German colonial entanglements, but the fantasy that drove Lebensraum during the Second Reich.

The Environment and Sustainable Development in the New Central Europe

Bochniarz, z. & cohen g. (eds).

Environmental Organizations in Modern Germany

Hardy survivors in the twentieth century and beyond, markham, w. t..

The Ethics of Seeing

Photography and twentieth-century german history, evans, j., betts p., & hoffmann, s.-l. (eds).

The Ethics of Seeing brings together an international group of scholars to explore the complex relationship between the visual and the historic in German history. These revealing case studies illustrate photography’s multilayered role as a new form of representation, a means to subjective experience, and a fresh mode of narrating the past.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies

Ethnic Conflict and Indoctrination

Altruism and identity in evolutionary perspectives, eibl-eibesfeldt, i. & salter, f. (eds).

Europe After Maastricht

American and european perspectives, lützeler, p. m. (ed).

Europe in Exile

European exile communities in britain 1940-45, conway, m. & gotovitch, j. (eds), subjects: history: world war ii history: 20th century to present.

European Business, Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920-1945

Kobrak, c. & hansen, p. (eds).

The European Way

European societies in the 19th and 20th centuries, kaelble, h. (ed).

Explorations and Entanglements

Germans in pacific worlds from the early modern period to world war i, berghoff, h., biess, f., & strasser, u. (eds).

Explorations and Entanglements reconstructs the German elements in the overlapping cultural circuits and complex oceanic transits of the “Pacific Worlds.” It concentrates on the pre-1914 period and encompasses scientific, cultural, religious and commercial exchanges. It opens a gate to a fascinating and hitherto much neglected arena of transnational encounters.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Colonial History

The Faltering Transition

Gilbert, m. & pasquino, g. (eds).

Fame Amid the Ruins

Italian film stardom in the age of neorealism.

Italian cinema gave rise to some of the best-known films of the postwar years, and its stars were beloved by both the public and producers. This book explores the many conflicts over stars and stardom that arose during Italian cinema’s postwar rebirth, shedding new light on the close relationship forged between cinema and society.

Fascism without Borders

Transnational connections and cooperation between movements and regimes in europe from 1918 to 1945, bauerkämper, a. & rossolińki-liebe, g. (eds).

Despite its reputation for ultra-nationalism, Fascism understood itself as a transnational political movement. Through a series of fascinating case studies, this expansive collection examines fascism’s transational dimension, from the movements inspired by the early example of Fascist Italy to the international antifascist organizations that emerged in subsequent years.

Fascist Europe

From italian supremacy to subservience to the reich (1932-1943), fioravanzo, m..

Examining the unexplored project for a new European order developed by Italian intellectuals, Fascist Europe reconstructs the theoretical debates that shaped relationships between Fascist Italy, the Nazi Reich, and other Axis nations. In doing so it sheds light on how much the order may have prospectively united or divided the Fascist regime and the Nazi Reich in the post-war order.

Fascist Interactions

Proposals for a new approach to fascism and its era, 1919-1945, roberts, d. d..

Increasingly, scholars of fascism have called for a new agenda with research beyond Italy and Germany, less preoccupation with classification, and sustained attention to the relationships among different fascist formations. Starting from a critical assessment of these imperatives, this volume charts a path that deemphasizes rigid distinctions while still deploying reasonably rigorous criteria of differentiation.

The Fateful Alliance

German conservatives and nazis in 1933: the machtergreifung in a new light.

Fault Lines

Earthquakes and urbanism in modern italy, parrinello, g..

Although earthquakes can have disastrous effects on human lives and environments, they can also significantly influence urban development. This book follows the history of two Italian seismic disasters — the 1908 Messina earthquake and the 1968 earthquake in the Belice Valley, Sicily — exploring plans preceding the destruction and the urbanism that emerged from the ruins.

Federalism Doomed?

European federalism between integration and separation, heinemann-grüder, a. (ed).

Fellow Tribesmen

The image of native americans, national identity, and nazi ideology in germany.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Germans exhibited a widespread cultural passion for tales and representations of Native Americans. Pervasive and adaptable, imagery of Native Americans was appropriated by Nazi propaganda and merged with exceptionalist notions of German tribalism, oxymoronically promoting the Nazis' racial ideology.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Literary Studies

Final Sale in Berlin

The destruction of jewish commercial activity, 1930-1945, kreutzmüller, c..

Reconstructing the fate of more than 8,000 companies, this book offers the first comprehensive analysis of Jewish economic activity and its destruction in Nazi Berlin

Football Nation

The playing fields of german culture, history, and society, dawson, r., heinsohn, b., knabe, o., & mcdougall, a. (eds).

Germany’s football culture has a historically rich background full of transnational entanglements, German identity formation, and fan cultures. Football Nation constructs new insights surrounding the multifaceted landscapes of German historical and contemporary football debates as it investigates football’s role in discourses on culture, history, and politics.

Forging Political Identity

Silk and metal workers in lyon, france 1900-1939, subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present sociology political and economic anthropology.

Four-Color Communism

Comic books and contested power in the german democratic republic.

As with all other forms of popular culture, comics in East Germany were tightly controlled by the state. Comics were employed as extensions of the regime’s educational system, delivering state ideology to develop the socialist personality among youth. The East German children who avidly read these comics, however, found their own meanings and projected their own desires in them.

Fragmented Fatherland

Immigration and cold war conflict in the federal republic of germany, 1945-1980, clarkson, a..

A Fragmented Landscape

Abortion governance and protest logics in europe, de zordo, s., mishtal, j., & anton. j. (eds).

Since 1945, European states’ social policy landscapes have proven remarkably varied, especially when it comes to contentious issues such as abortion, which is governed by a wide range of policy regimes. This volume provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary survey of the struggles over abortion rights in Europe from the immediate postwar era to the present era.

Subjects: Medical Anthropology History: 20th Century to Present

Framing the Fifties

Cinema in a divided germany, davidson, j. & hake, s. (eds).

France After 2012

Goodliffe, g. & brizzi, r. (eds).

In May 2012, French voters rejected the liberalizing policies of Nicolas Sarkozy and elected his opponent, the Socialist François Hollande, president. This book analyzes the context and results of the French 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections and sets out the principal challenges facing the new administration and government in their wake.

France and the Construction of Europe, 1944-2007

The geopolitical imperative.

France and the German Question, 1945–1990

Bozo, f. & wenkel, c. (eds).

This book revisits France’s attitude towards the German question as it existed and evolved during the post-World War Two and the Cold War eras in order to shed light on previously neglected aspect of the history of the Cold War, of Germany, and of Europe in the second half of the twentieth century.

France At War in the Twentieth Century

Propaganda, myth, and metaphor, holman, v. & kelly, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present history: world war i history: world war ii media studies.

France in the Age of Organization

Factory, home and nation from the 1920s to vichy.

France, Germany, and Nuclear Deterrence

Quarrels and convergences during the cold war and beyond, badalassi, n. & gloriant, f. (eds).

France, Germany, and the Nuclear Deterrence employs a multi-archival approach to the legacy of World War II and the bipolar division of Europe. The volume longitudinally covers the post-war, Cold War and post-Cold War eras and leads into the present day to focus on the history of Franco-German strategic and nuclear relations within an evolving Euro-Atlantic security architecture.

French Foreign Policy since 1945

An introduction.

This compact and engaging history recounts France’s efforts to reconcile its proud history and global ambitions with a realistic appraisal of its capabilities following World War II. It provides insightful analysis of decolonization, the Cold War, and European unification, always attentive to the challenges posed by an increasingly multipolar, interconnected world.

French Intellectuals Against the Left

The antitotalitarian moment of the 1970s, christofferson, m. s..

The French Right Between the Wars

Political and intellectual movements from conservatism to fascism, kalman, s. & kennedy, s. (eds).

Friendly Enemies

Britain and the gdr, 1949-1990, berger, s. & laporte, n..

From Berlusconi to Monti

Bosco, a. & mcdonnell, d. (eds).

From Caligari to California

Eric pommer's life in the international film wars, subjects: film and television studies history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

From Craftsmen to Capitalists

German artisans from the third reich to the federal republic, 1939-1953, mckitrick, f. l..

As Hitler consolidated power, German artisans emerged as an important Nazi constituency, drawn by the party’s rejection of both capitalism and Bolshevism. Yet, after 1945, they became one of the pillars of postwar stability. This volume gives the first account of this astonishing transformation, exploring how tradesmen helped to realize German democratization and recovery.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Political and Economic Anthropology Sociology

From Eastern Bloc to European Union

Comparative processes of transformation since 1990, heydemann, g. & vodička, k. (eds).

This volume assembles detailed, empirically grounded studies of eleven former Soviet states and current EU members. Each chapter analyzes the political, economic, and social transformation processes that have taken place in a given nation, identifying structural similarities and assessing outcomes compared to one another as well as the rest of Europe.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Political and Economic Anthropology

From Fidelity to History

Film adaptations as cultural events in the twentieth century, scholz, a.-m., subjects: cultural studies (general) history: 20th century to present film and television studies.

From Recovery to Catastrophe

Municipal stabilization and political crisis, lieberman, b..

From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic

Germany at the twentieth anniversary of unification, anderson, j. & langenbacher, e. (eds).

From Weimar to Hitler

Studies in the dissolution of the weimar republic and the establishment of the third reich, 1932-1934, beck, h. & jones, l. e. (eds).

From Weimar to Hitler examines the crisis of Weimar democracy, the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, and the Nazi consolidation of power, drawing from multiple perspectives to discover whether the transition from Weimar to Hitler was historically predetermined or the product of human miscalculation and intent.

Frontiers of Civil Society

Government and hegemony in serbia.

Frontiers of Civil Society is a historical anthropological analysis of the roles of ‘civil society’ in Serbia’s postsocialist and postauthoritarian transformation, focusing mainly on a set of interventions through which various civil society forces supported neoliberalization and transnational integration as part of a hegemonic project of social transformation after the rule of Slobodan Milošević.

Subjects: Anthropology (General) Political and Economic Anthropology History: 20th Century to Present

Frustrated Aspirations for Change

Donovan, m. & onofri, p. (eds).

Futurism and Politics

Between anarchist rebellion and fascist reaction, 1909-1944, berghaus, g..

Gender History of German Jews

A short introduction, schüler-springorum, s..

Gender History of German Jews is a concise overview of German-Jewish gender agency and change against the “dawn of modernity” across both men and women who dealt with histories of status change, discrimination, persecution, and deportation.

Subjects: Jewish Studies History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present

Gendering Modern German History

Rewriting historiography, hagemann, k. & quataert, j. h. (eds), subjects: gender studies and sexuality history: 20th century to present.

Gendering Post-1945 German History

Entanglements, hagemann, k., & harsch, d., & brühöfner, f. (eds).

Gendering Post-1945 German History: Entanglements offers new and critical insight into the state of the research on post-war German history from a gender perspective. Using the concept of “entanglement,” this volume investigates the ways in which East and West German gender relations were socially and politically intertwined.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Gender Studies and Sexuality Sociology

General de Gaulle's Cold War

Challenging american hegemony, 1963-68, martin, g. j..

“While there is a lot of information for readers to take in, the subject is inherently complex, spanning different aspects of French foreign policy and the politics of other countries and institutions. In spite of this complexity, Martin displays a good grasp of the material. The book is the product of archival research in England, France, and the United States, as well as engagement with published collections and the relevant secondary literature on the topic. Martin has thus covered most of his bases.”  ·  H-France Review

“ [The book] is extremely well researched, well written, and Martin accomplishes his stated objective: namely, to provide a more balanced account of de Gaulle that goes beyond views of him as either a visionary, or an irresponsible and anti-American nationalist…Martin’s analysis makes a unique contribution in that it examines the linkages between the General's economic, political and security policy in order to understand how the three came together to shape his overall policy toward the US. ”  ·  Erin Mahan , Chief Historian, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Genocide in the Ottoman Empire

Armenians, assyrians, and greeks, 1913-1923, shirinian, g. n. (ed).

From 1913 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire deported or killed staggering numbers of non-Turkish, non-Muslim citizens in an attempt to preserve “Turkey for the Turks,” setting a modern precedent for how a regime can commit genocide while largely escaping accountability. This definitive volume is the first to comprehensively examine the genocides of the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks in comparative fashion.

German Division as Shared Experience

Interdisciplinary perspectives on the postwar everyday, carter, e., palmowski, j., & schreiter, k. (eds).

German Division as Shared Experience shows the extent to which the story of East and West Germany was one of mutual entanglement after 1945. By subsuming political considerations into the historical domain of the social and cultural, each of the innovative studies presented here analyzes moments of connection at the level of lived experience across the East-West divide.

German Literature in a New Century

Trends, traditions, transitions, transformations, gerstenberger, k. & herminghouse, p. (eds).

German Public Policy and Federalism

Current debates on political, legal, and social issues, gunlicks, a. b. (ed).

The German Right in the Weimar Republic

Studies in the history of german conservatism, nationalism, and antisemitism, jones, l. e. (ed).

“ The individual chapters range in quality from good to excellent....[and offer] a judicious mix of work from prominent academics and younger scholars. The weighing up of continuities and discontinuities between the Right and Nazism is well considered and offers refreshingly new insights into the history of inter-war Germany .”  ·  Conan Fischer , University of St. Andrews

German Rule, African Subjects

State aspirations and the reality of power in colonial namibia, zimmerer, j..

This classic study, now available for the first time in English, explains how German colonial ambitions foundered in present-day Namibia. As it shows, the highly rationalized planning of Wilhelmine authorities could not accommodate the practical, lived realities of both colonizer and colonized.

Subjects: Colonial History History: 20th Century to Present

German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing, 1919-1945

Haar, i. & fahlbusch, m. (eds).

The German Student Movement and the Literary Imagination

Transnational memories of protest and dissent, subjects: literary studies history: 20th century to present sociology.

German–Jewish Studies

Next generations, wallach, k. & elyada. a. (eds).

Applying current and evolving interdisciplinary scholarship to bring an original and comprehensive assessment of why German-Jewish studies as a field is vital to further our understanding of antisemitism, racism, and coloniality, German-Jewish Studies: Next Generations grounds the field’s necessity to the future of scholarship in the twenty-first century.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Jewish Studies

Germans Against Nazism

Nonconformity, opposition and resistance in the third reich: essays in honour of peter hoffmann, nicosia, f. r. & stokes, l. d. (eds).

Rather than being accepted by all of German society, the Nazi regime was resisted in both passive and active forms. This volume examines opposition to National Socialism by Germans during the Third Reich in its broadest sense.

The Germans and the Holocaust

Popular responses to the persecution and murder of the jews, schrafstetter, s. & steinweis, a. e. (eds).

For decades, historians have debated how and to what extent the Holocaust penetrated the German national consciousness between 1933 and 1945. This compact volume brings together six historical investigations into the subject from leading scholars, employing newly accessible and previously underexploited evidence.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Jewish Studies Genocide History

Germans No More

Accounts of jewish everyday life, 1933-1938, limberg, m. & rübsaat, h. (eds).

Germany and the Confessional Divide

Religious tensions and political culture, 1871-1989, ruff, m. e. & großbölting, t. (eds).

Germany confessional identities developed against cultural, religious, and political tensions in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unpacking the conflicted religious history, this collection focuses on defining traumatic events, tracing their origins across division between Catholics and Protestants, hinderance of German unification, and transforming religious identities, allegiances, and practices

Germany and the Middle East

From kaiser wilhelm ii to angela merkel.

For more than a hundred years, persistent conflict in the Middle East has led global superpowers like Germany to become involved. Germany and the Middle East encounters in detail how the nation came to accept its historical responsibility towards newer states in the Middle East, and how major developments of the twentieth century shaped its approach to the region.

Germany and 'The West'

The history of a modern concept, bavaj, r. & steber, m. (eds).

In the nineteenth century “the West” became associated with notions of progress, liberty, civilization, and modernity. Examining the shifting meanings, political uses, and transnational circulations of the idea of “the West” sheds new light on German intellectual history from the post-Napoleonic era to the Cold War.

Germany On Their Minds

German jewish refugees in the united states and their relationships with germany, 1938–1988, schenderlein, a. c..

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, the United States granted asylum to approximately ninety thousand German Jews fleeing the horrors of the Third Reich. Author Anne C. Schenderlein gives a fascinating account of these entangled histories on both sides of the Atlantic and demonstrates the remarkable extent to which German Jewish refugees helped shape the course of West German democratization.

Subjects: Jewish Studies Refugee and Migration Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Germany's Difficult Passage to Modernity

Breakdown, breakup, breakthrough, lankowski, c. (ed).

Germany's New Politics

Parties and issues in the 1990s, conradt, d., kleinfeld, g. r., romoser, g. k. & søe, c. (eds).

Global Exchanges

Scholarships and transnational circulations in the modern world, tournès, l. & scott-smith, g. (eds).

Exchanges between different cultures and institutions of learning have taken place for centuries, yet formal exchange programs did not exist until the 20th century. The essays in Global Exchanges examine the most important scholarship programs, exploring the essential contributions of organized exchange.

Subjects: Mobility Studies History: 20th Century to Present Educational Studies

Globalizing Automobilism

Exuberance and the emergence of layered mobility, 1900–1980.

Why has “car society” proven so durable, even in the face of mounting environmental and economic crises? In this follow-up to his magisterial Atlantic Automobilism , Gijs Mom traces the global spread of the automobile in the postwar era and investigates why adopting more sustainable forms of mobility has proven so difficult.

Subjects: Transport Studies History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Mobility Studies

Governing Fear

Baldini, g. & cento bull, a. (eds).

Governing Under Constraint

Carbone, m. & piattoni, s. (eds).

In 2015, Matteo Renzi’s government continued to elicit contrasting reactions while dealing with both internal and external constraints. Although the success of the 2015 Universal Exposition in Milan helped to bolster the image of the country, Italy continued to play a marginal role in key international areas, such as migration, European austerity policies, and the fight against terrorism.

The Great Reform That Never Was

Chiaramonte, a. & wilson, a. (eds).

In Italy, 2016 was meant to be the year of the “great reform,” a constitutional revision that would have concluded the never-ending transition from “First” to “Second” Republic, a long process involving several transformations in the electoral system and party system since the 1990s. It did not turn out this way.

The Great Train Race

Railways and the franco-german rivalry, 1815-1914, mitchell, a., subjects: history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present transport studies.

The Greek Exodus from Egypt

Diaspora politics and emigration, 1937-1962, dalachanis, a..

This painstakingly researched book explains how Egypt’s once-robust Greek population dwindled to virtually nothing, beginning with the abolition of foreigners’ privileges in 1937 and culminating in the nationalist revolution of 1952. It reconstructs the delicate sociopolitical circumstances that Greeks had to navigate during this period, tracing the complex causes of demographic decline.

The Greek Military Dictatorship

Revisiting a troubled past, 1967–1974, anastasakis, o. & lagos, k. (eds).

From 1967 to 1974, the military junta ruling Greece attempted a dramatic reshaping of the nation, implementing ideas and policies that, for better or for worse, left an indelible mark on both domestic affairs and international relations. Bringing together leading scholars from a range of disciplines, The Greek Military Dictatorship provides a fresh and nuanced reassessment of this era.

The Guardians of Concepts

Political languages of conservatism in britain and west germany, 1945-1980.

Since 1945, German and British intellectuals and politicians have struggled to define the term “conservative” throughout its complicated history. The Guardians of Concepts rigorously uncovers the changes in the idea of conservatism and its national and transnational political language history.

Guido Goldman

Transatlantic bridge builder, klingst, m..

Guido Goldman was one of the most distinguished protagonists of the reintegration of Germany into the international community after the defeat of Nazism in 1945. This biography looks at his remarkable life from his establishment of the German Marshall Fund to establishing the Center for European Studies at Harvard University.

Gulag Memories

The rediscovery and commemoration of russia's repressive past, bogumił, z..

Gulag Memories explores the impact of the Gulag on collective memory as it applies to the language of commemoration in Russia, focusing on four regions particularly affected by the Gulag: Solovetsky Islands, the Komi Republic, the Perm region, and Kolyma.

Gustav Stresemann

The crossover artist, pohl, k. h..

Gustav Stresemann has become a steadfast icon and key figure in understanding contemporary German and European history. Renowned historian Karl Heinrich Pohl draws on new archival material and extensive research to supplement our previous knowledge of Stresmann’s life and work.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present History (General)

Hairy Hippies and Bloody Butchers

The greenpeace anti-whaling campaign in norway.

This book provides an inside look at Greenpeace’s decades-long campaign against the Norwegian whaling industry. Combining historical narrative with sophisticated systems-theory analysis, it examines the organization’s failure to end Norwegian whaling, providing valuable lessons for other protest movements.

Subjects: Environmental Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History

Imperialism, nation, race, and genocide, king, r. h. & stone, d. (eds), subjects: genocide history colonial history history: 20th century to present.

Hazardous Chemicals

Agents of risk and change, 1800-2000, homburg, e. & vaupel, e. (eds).

Covering a host of both notorious and little-known substances, the chapters in this collection investigate the emergence of specific toxic, pathogenic, carcinogenic, and ecologically harmful chemicals as well as the scientific, cultural and legislative responses they have prompted over the past two hundred years.

Subjects: Environmental Studies (General) History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present

Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe

The social life of asia minor refugees in piraeus, hirschon, r..

Since its first publication in 1989, this classic study has remained in demand. The third edition of Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe includes updated material with a new Preface, Epilogue, and map of the study area.

Subjects: Anthropology (General) Refugee and Migration Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Helmut Kohl's Quest for Normality

His representation of the german nation and himself.

During his political career, Helmut Kohl used his own life story to promote a normalization of German nationalism and to overcome the stigma of the Nazi period. In the context of the cold war and the memory of the fascist past, he was able to exploit the combination of his religious, generational, regional, and educational (PhD in History) experiences by connecting nationalist ideas to particular biographical narratives.

Helsinki 1975 and the Transformation of Europe

Bange, o. & niedhart, g. (eds).

The Herero Genocide

War, emotion, and extreme violence in colonial namibia, häussler, m..

Drawing on previously inaccessible and overlooked archival sources, The Herero Genocide undertakes a groundbreaking investigation into the war between colonizer and colonized in what was formerly German South West Africa and is today the nation of Namibia. The result is an indispensable account of a genocide that has been neglected for too long.

Heritage under Socialism

Preservation in eastern and central europe, 1945–1991, gantner, e. b., geering, c., & vickers, p. (ed).

Heritage under Socialism enriches the conceptual, methodological and empirical scope of heritage studies. Its transnational approach highlights the socialist world’s diverse interpretations of heritage and its trajectories in post-socialist preservation practices, thus providing new perspectives on the way heritage has been shaped in the recent past.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Heritage Studies Memory Studies

History and Belonging

Representations of the past in contemporary european politics, berger, s. & tekin, c. (eds).

One of the EU’s primary strategies in European unification has been to construct a common representation of European history, yet the question remains: is there an uncontested history of Europe? History and Belonging addresses this question along with many others related to the EU’s post-national identity policies.

The History of Labour Intermediation

Institutions and finding employment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wadauer, s., buchner, t., & mejstrik, a. (eds).

Searching for a job has been an everyday affair in both modern and past societies, and employment a concern for both individuals and institutions. The case studies in this volume investigate job search and placement practices in European countries, Australia, and India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Sociology Political and Economic Anthropology

The History of the Stasi

East germany's secret police, 1945-1990, gieseke, j..

The History of Thyssen

Family, industry and culture in the 20th century, schulz, g. & szöllösi-janze, m..

The History of Thyssen provides a summary of a research project funded by the Thyssen Foundations. It is both an explanation of how the project was conceptualized and executed and a detailed case study of a family and business during the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century

A History Shared and Divided

East and west germany since the 1970s, bösch, f. (ed).

Divided History uniquely explores how East and West Germany responded to the new challenges and crises of the 1970s, and reunification. Topics range from political, labor, and business issues to migration and environmental issues, showing how the two German states remained inextricably connected in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hitler's Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion

Violence against jews in provincial germany, 1919–1939.

Hitler's Slaves

Life stories of forced labourers in nazi-occupied europe, plato, a., leh, a. & thonfeld, c. (eds).

Holocaust Monuments and National Memory

France and germany since 1989, carrier, p., subjects: history: 20th century to present genocide history heritage studies.

Homemade Men in Postwar Austrian Cinema

Nationhood, genre and masculinity, fritsche, m., subjects: film and television studies history: 20th century to present gender studies and sexuality.

Hotbeds of Licentiousness

The british glamour film and the permissive society.

By focusing on a series of colorful filmmakers whose work, while omnipresent during the 1970s, now remains critically ignored, Hotbeds of Licentiousness explores pornography as a lens through which to view radical changes in British society.

A Human Garden

French policy and the transatlantic legacies of eugenic experimentation, rosental, p.-a..

A Human Garden explains the longevity of the Ungemach Gardens, an experimental eugenic city that survived on the outskirts of Strasbourg from the 1920s to the 1980s. He reveals the inheritance of eugenics, examining ways in which eugenics have come to influence social, health, and educational policymaking in the post-war era.

Humanitarianism and Media

1900 to the present, paulmann, j. (ed).

Humanitarianism & Media brings together scholars from a variety of backgrounds to offer an unprecedented exploration of the history behind humanitarian efforts and the media, spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

Humanity's Soldier

France and international security, 1919-2001.

Humboldt Revisited

The impact of the german university on american higher education, brandser, g. c..

Humboldt Revisited offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary discourse surrounding reform of European universities. Drawing from a rich selection of historical sources, this volume challenges the conventional historical narratives on the Humboldt University, providing new insight into the American reception of the German ideas.

Subjects: Educational Studies History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

Ice and Snow in the Cold War

Histories of extreme climatic environments, herzberg, j., kehrt, c., & torma, f. (eds).

This fascinating volume demonstrates that regions such as Alaska, the polar landscapes, and the cold areas of the Soviet periphery were of no small importance during the Cold War. Through histories of these extremely cold environments, this volume makes a novel intervention in Cold War historiography, one whose global and transnational approach undermines the simple opposition of “East” and “West.”

If Cars Could Walk

Postsocialist streets in transformation, duijzings, g. & tuvikene, t. (eds).

Addressing the transformation of street life in postsocialist cities against the backdrop of the explosive rise of car-mobility in the last 25 years, If Cars Could Walk consists of ethnographic case studies documenting changes in these cities as former socialist modes of mobility are replaced by a culture of privately owned cars.

Subjects: Transport Studies History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General)

The Imaginary Revolution

Parisian students and workers in 1968, seidman, m..

Immigration Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany

Negotiating membership and remaking the nation, klusmeyer, d. & papademetriou, d..

In the Name of the Great Work

Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature and its impact in eastern europe, olšáková, d. (ed).

Following Stalin’s lead, the newly communist states of Eastern Europe pursued a total “transformation of nature” in the 1940s and 1950s intended to improve agricultural outputs. This richly detailed volume follows the history of such projects in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, exploring their varied, but largely disastrous, consequences.

In the Shadow of the Great War

Physical violence in east-central europe, 1917–1923, böhler, j., konrád, o., kučera, r. (eds).

Whether victorious or not, Central European states faced fundamental challenges after the First World War as they struggled to contain ongoing violence and forge peaceful societies. This collection explores the various forms of violence these nations confronted during this period, which effectively transformed the region into a laboratory for state-building.

Subjects: History: World War I History: 20th Century to Present Peace and Conflict Studies

Incarceration and Regime Change

European prisons during and after the second world war, de vito, c. g., futselaar, r., & grevers, h. (eds).

During the “long” Second World War, military mobilization, social disorder, and political changes swelled the ranks of the imprisoned and broadened the carceral reach of the state. This volume brings together theoretically sophisticated, empirically rich studies of key transitional moments that transformed European prisons during and after the war.

Indoctrinability, Ideology and Warfare

Evolutionary perspectives, eibl-eibesfeldt, i. & salter, f.k. (eds).

The Indoctrination of the Wehrmacht

Nazi ideology and the war crimes of the german military.

Far from the image of an apolitical, “clean” Wehrmacht that persists in popular memory, German soldiers regularly cooperated with organizations like the SS in the abuse and murder of countless individuals. This in-depth study reveals that military indoctrination was but one piece of the larger effort at the socialization of young men during the Nazi era.

Subjects: History: World War II Genocide History History: 20th Century to Present

Inside Party Headquarters

Organizational culture and practice of rule in the socialist unity party of germany, bergien, r..

As one of the first overviews of a central apparatus of a communist state party, Inside Party Headquarters focuses on the “inner life” of the party and its employees, and examines the changing relations of party and state over the course of four decades.

International Adventures

German popular cinema and european co-productions in the 1960s, bergfelder, t..

International Organizations and Environmental Protection

Conservation and globalization in the twentieth century, kaiser, w. & meyer, j.-h. (eds).

Environmental issues transcend national boundaries, and thus they have been a particular focus for international organizations for over a century. This volume is the first to comprehensively explore the environmental activities of regional bodies, professional communities, the United Nations, NGOs, and other international organizations during the twentieth century.

International Organizations Revisited

Agency and pathology in a multipolar world, dijkzeul, d. & salomons, d. (eds).

Thoroughly revised and based on current management research, this follow-up to Rethinking International Organizations provides a wealth of both empirical and theoretical insights to the management of the United Nations and international NGOs, along with practical recommendations for how these organizations can function more effectively.

Intimate Histories

African americans and germany since 1933, klopprogge, n..

Intimate Histories investigates the role and conceptualizations of intimacy between African American and German relations between 1933 through 1990. Reviewing issues surrounding anti-miscegenation laws, casual sexual encounters, and unique friendships, this book traces how intimacy became an important site of transnational racial history.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Gender Studies and Sexuality

The Inverted Mirror

Mythologizing the enemy in france and germany, 1898-1914, nolan, m. e..

Invested Narratives

German responses to economic crisis, twark, j. (ed).

Narratives of how nations survive, restructure or even fail during economic crisis not only inform future responses to crisis but also strengthen national theoretical, empirical, and analytical financial discourse. Invested Narratives brings together an interdisciplinary set of scholars to address the history of German responses to crisis over the past 200 years.  

Investigating Srebrenica

Institutions, facts, responsibilities, delpla, i., bougarel, x., & fournel, j.-f. (eds).

Iron Landscapes

National space and the railways in interwar czechoslovakia, jeschke, f..

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia built an ambitious national rail network out of what remained of the obsolete Habsburg system. Drawing on evidence ranging from government documents to newsreels to train timetables, Iron Landscapes gives a nuanced account of how planners and authorities knitted together the young nation-state and articulated a Czechoslovak cosmopolitanism.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Transport Studies

Israel-Palestine

Lands and peoples, bartov, o. (ed).

The conflict between Israel and Palestine has raised a plethora of unanswered questions, generated seemingly unreconcilable narratives, and profoundly transformed the land’s physical and political geography. This volume seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the links between the region that is now known as Israel and Palestine and its peoples—both those that live there as well as those who relate to it as a mental, mythical, or religious landscape.

Subjects: Peace and Conflict Studies History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present

Italian Neofascism

The strategy of tension and the politics of nonreconciliation, bull, a. cento.

Italy Between Europeanization and Domestic Politics

Fabbrini, s. & sala, v. della (eds).

Japan and Germany in the Modern World

John F. Kennedy’s Hidden Diary, Europe 1937

The travel journals of jfk and kirk lemoyne billings, kennedy, j. f., lemoyne billings, k., & lubrich, o..

Presenting the 1937 diaries of John F. Kennedy's tour of Europe alongside the "Scrapbook" of his travel companion, Lem Billings, John F. Kennedy’s Hidden Diary, Europe 1937 offers insights into Kennedy's early experiences on a continent under the shadow of Nazism.

José Antonio Primo de Rivera

The reality and myth of a spanish fascist leader, thomàs, j. m..

A leading figure in the Spanish Civil War, José Antonio Primo de Rivera was elevated to martyr status following his death and the victory of the Falangists. In this long-awaited translation, Joan Maria Thomàs cuts through the mythos surrounding Primo de Rivera’s life to give a measured, exhaustively researched study of his personality, beliefs, and political activity.

The Journalism of Milena Jesenská

A critical voice in interwar central europe, hayes, k. (ed), subjects: gender studies and sexuality literary studies jewish studies history: 20th century to present.

Journey Through America

Koeppen, w..

Journeys Into Madness

Mapping mental illness in the austro-hungarian empire, blackshaw, g. & wieber, s. (eds).

Journeys Through Fascism

Italian travel-writing between the wars, burdett, c..

Laborers and Enslaved Workers

Experiences in common in the making of rio de janeiro's working class, 1850-1920, badaró mattos, m..

In the nineteenth century, Rio de Janeiro was not only home to the largest population of enslaved laborers in the Americas, but it was also the site of an incipient working-class consciousness across seemingly distinct social categories. This volume analyzes the diverse labor arrangements and associative life of Rio’s working class, from which emerged the strategies that workers free and unfree pursued against oppression.

Latin America Facing China

South-south relations beyond the washington consensus, fernández jilberto, a. e. & hogenboom, b. (eds).

Launching the Grand Coalition

The 2005 bundestag election and the future of german politics, langenbacher, e. (ed.).

The Law in Nazi Germany

Ideology, opportunism, and the perversion of justice, steinweis, a. e. & rachlin, r. d. (eds).

Law, History, and Justice

Debating german state crimes in the long twentieth century.

Law, History, and Justice investigates the changing nature of international humanitarian law and explores the entanglements between historical experience, historiography, and law and (moral) politics by focusing on the effects of international law violations during the First World War, the National Socialist mass crimes, the Holocaust, as well as the systematic wrongdoings of the GDR.

Subjects: Peace and Conflict Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Learning Democracy

Education reform in west germany, 1945-1965, puaca, b. m., subjects: educational studies history: 20th century to present.

The Legacies of a Hawaiian Generation

From territorial subject to american citizen, schachter, j..

“Schachter has produced a powerful and moving account of Native Hawaiian elders who have now passed physically but continue to live on in spirit in the prose that she has assembled from the writings gifted to her.  This work represents the best that anthropology has to offer Indigenous peoples seeking to remain Native in a decidedly anti-Native world—a document that gives voice to the truths they know and which connects generations in a lineage of discourse.”  ·  Ty Tengan , University of Hawaii

Subjects: Anthropology (General) History: 20th Century to Present

The Legacies of Two World Wars

European societies in the twentieth century, kettenacker, l. & riotte, t. (eds).

Legacies of Violence

Rendering the unspeakable past in modern australia, mason, r. (ed).

Whether in the form of warfare, forced migration, or social prejudice, Australia’s sense of nationhood was born from experiences of violence. Legacies of Violence probes this brutal legacy through case studies that range from the colonial frontier to modern domestic spaces, exploring empathy, isolation, and Australians’ imagined place in the world.

The Legacy of Serbia's Great War

Politics and remembrance.

In an expertly researched, original case study on the memory of the traumatic retreat of the Serbian army in 1915, The Legacy of Serbia’s Great War cuts past contemporary canonization of the retreat and links narratives of the past to political choices in the present.

Legal Entanglements

Law, rights and the battle for legitimacy in divided germany, 1945-1989.

Drawing on wide-ranging archival research and recently declassified documents, Legal Entanglements follows the politicians, intellectuals, and other historical actors on both sides of the Berlin Wall who helped their nation to navigate volatile and uncertain legal circumstances.

Let Them Not Return

Sayfo – the genocide against the assyrian, syriac, and chaldean christians in the ottoman empire, gaunt, d., atto, n., & barthoma, s. o. (eds).

While the Armenian genocide is today widely recognized, the broader context of Ottoman violence against minority groups—including the indigenous, largely Christian Assyrians—are less well known. This volume is the first scholarly edited collection focused on the Assyrian genocide, or “sayfo.”

The Limits of Loyalty

Imperial symbolism, popular allegiances, and state patriotism in the late habsburg monarchy, cole, l. & unowsky, d. (eds), subjects: history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

A Living Past

Environmental histories of modern latin america, soluri, j., leal, c., & pádua, j. a. (eds).

Though still a relatively young field, the study of Latin American environmental history is no longer in its infancy. Bringing together thirteen leading experts on the region, A Living Past gives a transnational and thematically diverse survey of historical developments since the nineteenth century.

Lobbying Hitler

Industrial associations between democracy and dictatorship.

From 1933-45, Nazi Germany undertook massive industrial integration, submitting an entire economic sector to direct state oversight. This innovative study explores how German professionals navigated this complex landscape through the divergent careers of business managers in two of the era’s most important trade organizations.

The Long Aftermath

Cultural legacies of europe at war, 1936-2016, bragança, m. & tame, p. (eds).

The hostilities in Europe from 1936 to 1945 have exerted enormous influence over the cultural life of Europe. Bringing together over twenty leading scholars across disciplines, this interdisciplinary volume investigates the intertwining dynamics of Europeans’ individual and collective memories and the ways in which they have shaped cultural forms.

Losing Heaven

Religion in germany since 1945, großbölting, t..

The religious landscape of modern Germany is one that would scarcely be recognizable to earlier generations. This groundbreaking survey of German postwar religious life depicts a profoundly changed society that has almost entirely shed its Christian character despite a booming market for syncretistic, individualistic forms of “popular religion.”

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Anthropology of Religion

Love, Loyalty and Deceit

Rosemary firth, a life in the shadow of two eminent men, firth, h. & brown, l..

How much do we really know about our parents’ lives? What secrets lie in plain sight? This is the true story of hidden love within a small circle of some of the most acclaimed anthropologists of the 20th century.

Luso-Tropicalism and Its Discontents

The making and unmaking of racial exceptionalism, anderson, w., roque, r., & ventura santos, r. (eds).

The Portuguese-speaking Global South, especially Brazil, often envisions itself as exceptional in its racial conceptions and politics. Luso-Tropicalism and Its Discontents reassesses Gilberto Freyre’s influential claims that Portuguese colonialism produced what came to be called “racial democracy,” and explores racialization beyond the common trope of “race-mixing.”

Subjects: Colonial History History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

Making Nordic Historiography

Connections, tensions and methodology, 1850-1970, haapala, p., jalava, m., & larsson, s. (eds).

Is there a “Nordic history”? If so, what are its origins, its scope, and its defining features? In this definitive volume, scholars from all five Nordic nations tackle a notoriously problematic historical concept. Each contribution takes a deliberately transnational approach while grounding itself in careful research, yielding rich, nuanced perspectives on shifting and contested historical terrain.

The Making of the Greek Genocide

Contested memories of the ottoman greek catastrophe, sjöberg, e..

After World War I, over one million Ottoman Greeks were expelled from Turkey, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. This study analyzes the fight for international recognition of the Greek genocide narrative, showing how its memory developed as a cultural trauma with both nationalist and cosmopolitan dimensions.

Managing Ambiguity

How clientelism, citizenship, and power shape personhood in bosnia and herzegovina, brković, č..

Why do people turn to personal connections to get things done? Challenging widespread views of favors as means of survival in transitioning contexts, this volume demonstrates that these contemporary globalized forms of flexible governance are not contradictory to one another, but often mutually constitutive.

Subjects: Anthropology (General) Peace and Conflict Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Managing Uncertainty

Giuliani, m. & jones, e. (eds).

The Many Faces of Germany

Mccarthy, j. a., grûnzweig, w. & koebner, t. (eds).

Marking Evil

Holocaust memory in the global age, goldberg, a. & hazan, h. (eds).

Talking about the Holocaust has provided an international language for ethics, victimization, political claims, and constructions of collective identity. This volume addresses manifestations of Holocaust-engendered global discourse by critically examining their function and inherent dilemmas, and the ways in which Holocaust related matters still instigate public debate and academic deliberation.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Genocide History Memory Studies

The Marseille Mosaic

A mediterranean city at the crossroads of cultures, ingram, m. & kleppinger, k. (eds).

Moving across disciplines, The Marseille Mosaic integrates a diverse range of sources and methods to reveal France’s second city in the national imagination as a critical site for postcolonial memory and urban transformation as they crucially interact with debates in contemporary French society.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present Sociology Urban Studies

The Masculine Woman in Weimar Germany

Maternalism Reconsidered

Motherhood, welfare and social policy in the twentieth century, klein, m. van der, plant, r. j., sanders, nichole, & weintrob l. r. (eds).

The Meanings of a Disaster

Chernobyl and its afterlives in britain and france, kalmbach, k..

Focusing on the cases of Great Britain and France, this innovative study explores the discourses and narratives that arose in the wake of the incident among both state and nonstate actors. It gives a thorough account of the strategies that shaped Western European responses to the disaster as well as nuclear policy up to the present day.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Environmental Studies (General) Media Studies

Media and Revolt

Strategies and performances from the 1960s to the present, fahlenbrach, k., sivertsen, e. & werenskjold, r. (eds).

Memorializing the GDR

Monuments and memory after 1989, saunders, a..

Since unification, eastern Germany has witnessed a rapidly changing memorial landscape. Memorializing the GDR provides the first in-depth study of this key topic, investigating the individuals and groups involved in the creation or destruction of memorials while addressing the subject’s complex aesthetic, political, and historical dimensions.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Urban Studies Heritage Studies

Memory and Amnesia

The role of the spanish civil war in the transition to democracy, aguilar, p..

The Merkel Republic

An appraisal.

Bringing together German politics experts from both sides of the Atlantic, this volume addresses the campaign, results, and consequences of the 2013 Bundestag election. Chapters delve into a diverse array of themes, including immigrant-origin and women candidates, the fate of the small parties, and the prospects for the SPD, as well as more general structural trends like the Europeanization and cosmopolitanization of German politics.

Metaphors of Spain

Representations of spanish national identity in the twentieth century, moreno-luzón, j. & núñez seixas, x. m. (eds).

Despite the undeniably political character of the history of Spanish nationalism, a cultural approach can also provide essential insights into the subject. Metaphors of Spain brings together leading historians to examine Spanish nationalism through its diverse and complementary cultural artifacts, from “formal” representations such as the flag to music, bullfighting, and other more diffuse examples.

The Middle-Income Trap in Central and Eastern Europe

Causes, consequences and strategies in post-communist countries, kouli, y. & müller, u. (eds).

Reviewing the story of prosperity in Central and Eastern Europe up to current debates, The Middle-Income Trap in Central and Eastern Europe examines the reality of the diminishing marginal utility of further international investments alongside the pitfalls of higher national innovation.

Migration, Memory, and Diversity

Germany from 1945 to the present, wilhelm, c. (ed).

German attitudes toward migrants have been profoundly shaped by the legacies of the Second World War. This volume explores the history of migration and diversity in Germany from 1945 onward, showing how conceptions of “otherness” developed while memories of Nazism were still fresh, and identifying the continuities and transformations they have exhibited up until today.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Refugee and Migration Studies Memory Studies

Militant Around the Clock?

Left-wing youth politics, leisure, and sexuality in post-dictatorship greece, 1974-1981, papadogiannis, n..

During the 1970s left-wing youth militancy in Greece intensified, especially after the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974. This book is the first study of the impact of that political activism on the leisure pursuits and sexual behavior of Greek youth.

The Mind of the Nation

Völkerpsychologie in germany, 1851-1955, klautke, e..

“ This is a very careful and meticulous study of the history of a forgotten science, namely Völkerpsychologie , a scholarly attempt to study the psychological structure of nations. We can now understand not just its complex origins reaching back to the German intellectual history of the early 19th century, but also the intellectual intricacies in the works of its main protagonists. ”  ·  Uffa Jensen , Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Miners and the State in the Ottoman Empire

The zonguldak coalfield, 1822-1920, quataert, d., subjects: history (general) history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present sociology.

Minority Discourses in Germany since 1990

Gezen, e., layne, p., & skolnik, j. (eds).

Minorities and Minority Discourse in Germany since 1990 opens the question of why ethnic minorities in Germany are often discussed in isolation. Whereas most studies examine Black Germans, Jews in Germany, or Turkish Germans on their own terms vis-à-vis the majority German society, this volume takes on unique and comparative perspectives on an increasingly complex German society.

Mitteleuropa

Between europe and germany, katzenstein, p. (ed).

Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Unification

Modern Germany in Transatlantic Perspective

Meng, m. & seipp, a. r. (eds).

Modern Germany in Transatlantic Perspective celebrates the extraordinary life and scholarly career of Konrad H. Jarausch, whose monumental work as a teacher, mentor, and builder of scholarly institutions, helped to inspire conversations about everything from the rise of Nazism to the history of the two Germanys.

Modern Lusts

Ernest borneman: jazz critic, filmmaker, sexologist, siegfried, d..

Detlef Siegfried’s long-awaited English translation chronicles Ernest Borneman’s journey from his days as a young Jewish Communist in Berlin to his ventures in England and Canada, and ultimately, to his endeavors as the most prominent sexologist spearheading the sexual revolution in West Germany and Austria in the twentieth century.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Film and Television Studies Media Studies

Modernizing Bavaria

The politics of franz josef strauss and the csu, 1949-1969, milosch, m..

Moving Frames

Photographs in german cinema, collenberg-gonzález, c. & sheehan, m. p. (eds).

Through an intermedial approach combining studies on cinema and photography, Moving Frames addresses precise historical moments uniquely in a German context. Across films both in and outside the canon, this volume tackles those specific historical moments experienced in media forms to gauge the cultural, political, and transnational trends in humanity’s desire for agency and how that agency is represented.

Much Ado About Nothing?

Gualmini, e. & pasotti, e. (eds).

Music and International History in the Twentieth Century

Gienow-hecht, j. c. e. (ed).

Bringing together scholars from the fields of musicology and international history, this book investigates the significance of music to foreign relations, and how it affected the interaction of nations since the late 19th century.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies Performance Studies

Music and Postwar Transitions in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Fléchet, a., guerpin, m., gumplowicz, p. & kelly, b. l. (eds).

Music and Postwar Transitions takes a groundbreaking and much anticipated dive into the concept of postwar transitions and how these affect and are affected by the world of music. Leading scholars in the field explore new approaches to create a novel understanding of music and postwar periods.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century Media Studies

Myth and Modernity

Barlach's drawings on the nibelungen, paret, p. & thieme, h..

The Nanking Atrocity, 1937-1938

Complicating the picture, wakabayashi, b. t. (ed).

First published in 2007, The Nanking Atrocity remains an essential resource for understanding the massacre. This second edition includes an extensive new introduction reflecting on the historiographical developments of the last decade, making this even more relevant as we approach the 80th anniversary of the Nanking massacre.

Narratives in Motion

Journalism and modernist events in 1920s portugal, trindade, l..

A fascinating study of newspapers in 1920s Portugal, Narratives in Motion explores how the new “modernist reportage” embodied the spirit of its era while mediating some of its most spectacular episodes. In the process, it shows how that journalism epitomized a distinctively modern entanglement of narrative and event.

Narratives in the Making

Writing the east german past in the democratic present, gallinat, a..

This ethnography studies two very different institutions in one eastern German state taking divergent approaches to the past. While government organizations reliably depict the GDR as a dictatorship, one major regional newspaper focuses on the experiences and concerns of its readers—“memory work” that inevitably shapes citizenship and democracy.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Anthropology (General) Memory Studies

Nation Branding in Modern History

Viktorin, c., gienow-hecht, j. c. e., estner, a., & will, m. k. (eds).

Branding in Modern History draws from a variety of international case studies, ranging from Austria and Switzerland to Chile, the US, China, Spain, Suriname, and Poland to investigate the nexus between cultural marketing, self-representation and political power by looking at current nation branding campaigns as well as its historical predecessors.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Political and Economic Anthropology Media Studies

The Nation, Europe, and the World

Textbooks and curricula in transition, schissler, h. & soysal, y.n. (eds).

National Policy, Global Memory

The commemoration of the “righteous” from jerusalem to paris, 1942-2007, gensburger, s..

Starting in the late 1990s, European governments began developing national incarnations of the “Righteous among Nations,” the most prominent of which was the “Righteous of France,” honoring those who protected Jews during the Vichy regime. This book uses this instance of appropriation to illuminate debates over memory and nationhood.

Nationalism and Internationalism Intertwined

A european history of concepts beyond the nation state, ihalainen, p. & holmila, a. (eds).

Understanding the dynamics between nationalisms and internationalisms allows evaluating ongoing processes and intervening in current debates. Nationalism and Internationalism Intertwined , uses a multidisciplinary approach to a long term and macro-level history of international projects since the eighteenth century to assess how spaces of politics have been debated and redefined in different European political cultures.

Nationalism and the Cinema in France

Political mythologies and film events, 1945-1995.

What are the nuances, insider codes, and hidden history of the alignment between cinema and nationalism? Hugo Frey suggests that the concepts of the ‘political myth’ and ‘the film event’ are the essential theoretical reference points for unlocking film history. Nationalism and the Cinema in France offers new arguments regarding those connections in the French case.  

Nature of the Miracle Years

Conservation in west germany, 1945-1975.

Negotiating the Secular and the Religious in the German Empire

Transnational approaches, habermas, r. (ed).

Negotiating the Secular and the Religious in the German Empire sheds light on the multitude of worldviews, belief systems, and rituals that defined the borders between the secular and the religious in the German imperial era.

New Dangerous Liaisons

Discourses on europe and love in the twentieth century, passerini, l., ellena, l., & geppert, a. (eds).

Nordic War Stories

World war ii as history, fiction, media, and memory, stecher-hansen, m. (ed).

Nordic War Stories explores the commonalities and divergences among the five Nordic countries, examining formal and informal national historiographies alongside representations of the second world war in canonical literary works, memoirs, and films. Together, they comprise a valuable companion that challenges the myth of Scandinavian homogeneity while demonstrating the powerful influence that the war continues to exert on national self-conceptions.

Not Even Past

How the united states ends wars, fitzgerald, d., ryan, d., & thompson, j. m. (eds).

This volume brings together international experts on American history and foreign affairs to assess the cumulative impact of the United States’ efforts to end wars. It offers essential perspectives on both the Cold War and post-9/11 eras and demonstrates just how high the stakes are as the US confronts the possibility of war without end.

Subjects: Peace and Conflict Studies History: 20th Century to Present History (General)

The Nuclear Crisis

The arms race, cold war anxiety, and the german peace movement of the 1980s, becker-schaum, c., gassert, p., mausbach, w., klimke, m., and zepp, m. (eds).

In 1983, more than one million Germans joined to protest NATO’s deployment of nuclear missiles in Europe. This volume survey of the “Euromissiles” crisis as experienced by its various protagonists in Germany, including NATO’s strategic maneuvering and the contours of the German protest movement.

Oil and Sovereignty

Petro-knowledge and energy policy in the united states and western europe in the 1970s.

Oil and Sovereignty explores the national and international strategies formulated to deal with the first oil crises in 1973-1974, as steadily increasing prices and reduced production raised the specter of an uncertain future for many.

On the Path to Genocide

Armenia and rwanda reexamined, mayersen, d..

“ This is an excellent book. The combination of theory and context works well…The prose is sharp and the author has set up the problem in a logical way that is easy to follow.  It also benefits from an interdisciplinary approach.  Her grasp of detail is superior to many theorists…It reads very fluently, the author is clearly a gifted prose writer. The thread of argument runs through the book in a compelling way…The conclusion is full of intriguing ties to other case studies and the author summarizes her argument well .”   ·  Cathie Carmichael , University of East Anglia

One Sound, Two Worlds

The blues in a divided germany, 1945-1990.

Through extensive archival research and conversations with renowned publicists, musicians and insiders, author Michael Rauhut examines more than fifty texts to give an in-depth overview of the historical development of blues music in East and West Germany during the postwar period.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Performance Studies Cultural Studies (General)

An Ordinary Country

Issues in the transition from apartheid to democracy in south africa, alexander, n..

Osthandel and Ostpolitik

German foreign trade policies in eastern europe from bismarck to adenauer, spaulding, r. m..

Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline

Re-evaluating the evolution Oswald Spengler’s political activities and his work, Oswald Spengler and the Politics of Decline explains the outcome of Spengler’s meta-historical considerations on world history and the practical demands of Realpolitik. This volume takes a novel approach to one of the most important thinkers of the Weimar Republic and his contributions to the complex discourse of German national renewal.

Pacific Automobilism

Adventure, status and the carnival of mobility, 1970–2015.

In this expansive volume, historian Gijs Mom explores how contemporary mobility has been impacted by social, political, and economic forces on a global scale, as in light of local mobility cultures, the car as an ‘adventure machine’ seems to lose cultural influence in favor of the car’s status character.

Subjects: Transport Studies History: 20th Century to Present Mobility Studies

The Paradoxical Republic

Austria 1945–2020, rathkolb, o..

Written by one of the nation’s leading historians, this account of postwar Austria explores the tensions that have defined it for over seven decades. This newly revised edition also addresses the major developments since 2005, including a resurgent far right, economic instability, and the potential fracturing of the European Union.

Parallel Lives Revisited

Mediterranean guest workers and their families at work and in the neighbourhood, 1960-1980, bock, j. de.

In 2001, the term ‘parallel lives’ was coined in the UK to describe the relationship between immigrants and white Britons. Yet segregation among postwar immigrants was not new. Parallel Lives Revisited explores the lives of immigrants from six Mediterranean countries in the Belgian city of Ghent, concentrating on their experiences at the workplace and neighbourhood.

Subjects: Refugee and Migration Studies History: 20th Century to Present Sociology

The Path to the Berlin Wall

Critical stages in the history of divided germany.

The long path to the Berlin Wall began in 1945, when Joseph Stalin instructed the Communist Party to take power in the Soviet occupation zone while the three Western Allies secured their areas of influence. When Germany was split into separate states in 1949, Berlin remained divided into four sectors, with West Berlin surrounded by the GDR but lingering as a captivating showcase for Western values and goods. Following a failed Soviet attempt to expel the allies from West Berlin with a blockade in 1948–49, a second crisis ensued from 1958–61, during which the Soviet Union demanded once and for all the withdrawal of the Western powers and the transition of West Berlin to a “Free City.” Ultimately Nikita Khrushchev decided to close the border in hopes of halting the overwhelming exodus of East Germans to the West.

Tracing this path from a German perspective, Manfred Wilke draws on recently published conversations between Khrushchev and Walter Ulbricht, head of the East German state, in order to reconstruct the coordination process between these two leaders and the events that led to building the Berlin Wall.

Patterns of Provocation

Police and public disorder, bessel, r. & emsley, c. (eds).

Peace at All Costs

Catholic intellectuals, journalists, and media in postwar polish–german reconciliation, frieberg, a. e..

Peace at All Costs reconsiders postwar Polish-German relations as an interdisciplinary case study of reconciliation and follows an influential network of non-state peace activists, major players in print and audiovisual media, as they attempted to establish dialogue in the 1950s and 1960s.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Peace and Conflict Studies Media Studies

Perestroika and the Party

National and transnational perspectives on european communist parties in the era of soviet reform, di palma, f. (ed).

While studies of the impact of Gorbachev-era reforms have overwhelmingly focused on the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc nations, this ambitious collection assesses their historical trajectories on both sides of the Iron Curtain. It moves beyond domestic politics and narrowly defined foreign relations to examine the reforms’ collective impact.

Peripheries at the Centre

Borderland schooling in interwar europe.

Peripheries at the Centre reveals how Prussia, and later the German Empire, used educational policy to promote national identity along its geographical margins. It shows how policymakers sought to cultivate ideal German students who, it was hoped, would help to usher in a new, peaceful era in European history while reinforcing their status as German citizens.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Educational Studies

The Persistence of Race

Continuity and change in germany from the wilhelmine empire to national socialism, day, l. & haag, o. (eds).

In histories of the Third Reich, race is a ubiquitous topic, but German society produced a much more complex variety of racial representations over the first part of the twentieth century. This volume explores the hateful depictions of the Nazi era alongside Wilhelmine images of indigenous peoples, revealing race as on object of fascination for Germans across several eras.

Peter Lorre: Face Maker

Constructing stardom and performance in hollywood and europe.

Planning for the Planet

Environmental expertise and the international union for conservation of nature and natural resources, 1960–1980, schleper, s..

In the 1960s and 1970s, rapidly growing environmental awareness and concern not only led to widespread calls for new policies, but also created unprecedented demand for ecological expertise by the likes of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This book explores how conservation experts confronted new challenges tied to rival scientific approaches, Cold War politics, decolonization, and more.

Planning Labour

Time and the foundations of industrial socialism in romania, cucu, a.-s..

Planning Labour explores the early socialist industrialization and the implementation of central economic planning in Romania between 1945 and 1955. Centered on the city of Cluj, an ethnically mixed city in the northwestern part of Romania, this volume examines the deeply contradictory process required for achieving socialist accumulation.

The Plans That Failed

An economic history of the gdr, steiner, a..

Planting Seeds of Knowledge

Agriculture and education in rural societies in the twentieth century, hartmann, h. & tischler, j. (eds).

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, agricultural practices and rural livelihoods were challenged by changes such as commercialization, intensified global trade, and rapid urbanization. Planting Seeds of Knowledge studies the relationship between these agricultural changes and knowledge-making through a transnational lens.

Playing Politics with History

The bundestag inquiries into east germany, beattie, a. h..

The Pleasure of a Surplus Income

Part-time work, gender politics, and social change in west germany, 1955-1969, oertzen, c. von.

Plural Identities - Singular Narratives

The case of northern ireland, nic craith, m..

Poems in Steel

National socialism and the politics of inventing from weimar to bonn, subjects: history (general) history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

Poland Daily

Economy, work, consumption and social class in polish cinema, mazierska, e..

Polish cinema has inescapably been shaped by the nation’s succession of different economic and ideological regimes over the last century. This volume is the first to analyze the entirety of the nation’s film history—from independence in 1918 to today—through the lenses of political economy and social class.

The Policing of Politics in the Twentieth Century

Historical perspectives, mazower, m. (ed).

Policy Concertation and Social Partnership in Western Europe

Lessons for the twenty-first century, berger, s. & compston, h. (eds).

Polish Cinema

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Marek Haltof’s seminal survey takes stock of dramatic shifts in Polish society and to provide an essential account of the nation’s cinema from the nineteenth century to today. It covers such renowned figures as Kieślowski and Wajda along with vastly expanded coverage of documentaries, animation, and television.

The Political Economy of German Unification

Lange, t. & shackleton, j. (eds).

The Political Economy of Germany under Chancellors Kohl and Schröder

Decline of the german model.

Political Graffiti in Critical Times

The aesthetics of street politics, campos, r., pavoni, a., & zaimakis, y. (eds).

With a particular eye to the demographic, ecological, and economic crises of today, this volume provides a wide-ranging exploration of urban space and visual protest during periods of social and political upheaval. Assembling case studies that cover topics such as gentrification in Cyprus and the convulsions of post-independence East Timor, it reveals the ways in which street artists challenge existing social orders and reimagine urban landscapes.

Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933

Fight for the streets and fear of civil war, schumann, d..

Politics and Government in Germany, 1944-1994

Basic documents, schweitzer, c-c., karsten, d., spencer, r., taylor cole, r., kommers, d. p., & nicholls, a. j. (eds).

The Politics of Authenticity

Countercultures and radical movements across the iron curtain, 1968-1989, häberlen, j. c., keck-szajbel, m., & mahoney, k. (eds).

The Politics of Authentic Subjectivity explores how the politics of authenticity manifested itself among Italian leftists, East German lesbian activists, and punks on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This volume shows not only how authenticity came to define a variety of social contexts, but also how it helped to lay the groundwork for the neoliberalism of a subsequent era.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Sociology History: 20th Century to Present

The Politics of Education

Teachers and school reform in weimar germany, lamberti, m..

The Politics of German Defence and Security

Policy leadership and military reform in the post-cold war era.

The Politics of Personal Information

Surveillance, privacy, and power in west germany, frohman, l..

This book gives a definitive account of the politics of personal information in West Germany during the 1970s and 1980s, highlighting the growing role of personal information as a tool for social governance.

Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Cultural meanings, social practices, paletschek, s. (ed).

Portraits of Hope

Armenians in the contemporary world, voss, huberta von (ed).

Post-communist Nostalgia

Todorova, m. & gille, z. (eds).

Postwall German Cinema

History, film history and cinephilia.

Postwar Soldiers

Historical controversies and west german democratization, 1945–1955, echternkamp, j..

In Postwar Soldiers , Jörg Echternkamp analyzes three themes in the early history of West Germany: interpretations of the war during its conclusion and the occupation period; military veteran communities’ self-perceptions; and the public rehabilitation of the image of the German soldier.

Power and Society in the GDR, 1961-1979

The 'normalisation of rule', fulbrook, m. (ed).

The Power of Entrepreneurs

Politics and economy in contemporary spain, cabrera, m. & del rey, f..

Power Shift in Germany

The 1998 election and the end of the kohl era, conradt, d. p., kleinfeld g. r. & søe, c. (eds).

Practicing Public Diplomacy

A cold war odyssey, richmond, y..

A Precarious Victory

Schroeder and the german elections of 2002, conradt, d., kleinfeld, g. r. & søe, c. (eds).

Preserving Order Amid Chaos

The survival of schools in uganda, 1971-1986.

The Price of Exclusion

Ethnicity, national identity, and the decline of german liberalism, 1898-1933, kurlander, e..

Probing the Limits of Categorization

The bystander in holocaust history, morina, c. & thijs, k. (eds).

This volume discusses a number of case studies addressing the history of bystanding during and after the Nazi era. Combining historiographical, conceptual and empirical contributions, Probing the Limits of Categorization explores the roles and experiences of individuals caught up in the dynamics of state-sponsored genocidal violence.

Subjects: Genocide History Jewish Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Property in East Central Europe

Notions, institutions, and practices of landownership in the twentieth century, siegrist, h. & müller, d. (eds).

The national appropriation of property in the interwar period and the communist era represent an onerous legacy for the postcommunist (re)construction of a liberal-individualist property regime. However, as the scholars in the this collection show, after the demise of communism in Eastern Europe property is again a major factor in shaping individual identity and in providing the political order and culture with a foundational institution.

Protest Beyond Borders

Contentious politics in europe since 1945, kouki, h. & romanos, e. (eds).

Protest Cultures

A companion, fahlenbrach, k., klimke, m., & scharloth, j. (eds).

Protest is a ubiquitous and richly varied cultural domain whose symbolic content is regularly deployed by media and advertisers, among others. Yet within social movement scholarship, culture has been comparatively neglected. This definitive research companion dramatically expands the analytical perspective on subject by covering a remarkable array of protest cultures.

Protest in Hitler's “National Community”

Popular unrest and the nazi response, stoltzfus, n. & maier-katkin, b. (eds).

That Hitler’s Gestapo harshly suppressed any signs of opposition inside the Third Reich is a common misperception. This book presents studies of public dissent that examine circumstances under which “racial” Germans were motivated to protest, as well as the conditions determining the regime’s response.

The Quest for Economic Empire

Berghahn, v. r. (ed).

A Question of Priorities

Democratic reform and economic recovery in postwar germany, boehling, r..

Guarnieri, C. & Newell, J. (eds)

Race in France

Interdisciplinary perspectives on the politics of difference, chapman, h. & frader, l.l. (eds).

The Radical Right in Switzerland

Continuity and change, 1945-2000, skenderovic, d..

Raising Citizens in the 'Century of the Child'

The united states and german central europe in comparative perspective, schumann, d. (ed).

Rampart Nations

Bulwark myths of east european multiconfessional societies in the age of nationalism, berezhnaya, l. & hein-kircher, h. (eds).

Rampart Nations delves deeper into the bulwark (antemurale) myth and uncovers the stories that have helped to spread it within Eastern Europe. Through perspectives that range from Eastern European art history to theology, with a concentration on the nexus of political, social, and religious history, this volume explores historical narratives that have shaped contemporary Eastern European national identities.

Re-Imagining DEFA

East german cinema in its national and transnational contexts, allan, s. & heiduschke, s. (eds).

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, interest in East German cinema has exploded, inspiring innumerable festivals, books, and exhibits. In this stimulating collection, leading international experts assess this vibrant landscape and plot an ambitious course for future research that considers other cinematic traditions, genre works, and DEFA’s post-unification “afterlife.”

Rebellious Families

Household strategies and collective action in the 19th and 20th centuries, kok, j. (ed).

Recasting West German Elites

Higher civil servants, business leaders, and physicians in hesse between nazism and democracy, 1945-1955.

Recognizing the Past in the Present

New studies on medicine before, during, and after the holocaust, hildebrandt, s., offer, m., & grodin, m. a. (eds).

This interdisciplinary collection assembles a chain of documentation on the critical role of medicine in realizing the policies of Hitler’s regime. It traces the historical legacies of National Socialist medicine from their roots in the racial theories of the 1920s, through their manifestation in the Nazi period, and on to legacies and continuities from the postwar years to the present.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Genocide History Jewish Studies

Recollections of France

Memories, identities and heritage in contemporary france, blowen, s., demossier, m. & picard, j. (eds).

Reconciliation Road

Willy brandt, ostpolitik and the quest for european peace, schoenborn, b..

Based on extensive research in Brandt’s personal archives, additional studies in international archives, and interviews with contemporary witnesses, this book traces Brandt’s nearly lifelong efforts towards the full reintegration of a united Germany into the community of European countries.

Subjects: History (General) History: 20th Century to Present Peace and Conflict Studies

Reconstructing Education

East german schools after unification, pritchard, r. m. o..

Recovered Territory

A german-polish conflict over land and culture, 1919-1989, polak-springer, p..

From 1919 to 1989, the German-Polish borderland, one of Central Europe’s important industrial regions, was at the center of a conflict between Germany and Poland. In their interaction with — and mutual influence on — one another, both nations developed a transnational culture, giving the borderland a “Polish” / “German” face.

Red America

Greek communists in the united states, 1920-1950, karpozilos, k..

Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism were integral components of 19th and 20th century immigrant life. Red America explores the relationship between the immigrant experience in the United States and political radicalism, especially as it relates to the lesser explored Greek American experience in the 20th century.

Regime Changes

Macroeconomic policy and financial regulation in europe from the 1930s to the 1990s, forsyth, d. & notermans, t. (eds).

The Reluctant Revolutionary

Dietrich bonhoeffer's collision with prusso-german history, moses, j. a..

Reluctant Skeptic

Siegfried kracauer and the crises of weimar culture, craver, h. t..

Best remembered for investigations of film and other media, journalist and critic Siegfried Kracauer offered a seismographic reading of the Weimar-era confrontation between religion and secular modernity. This discerning study analyzes and contextualizes Kracauer’s early output, showing how he identified the quasi-theological roots of the era’s cultural ferment.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Cultural Studies (General) Media Studies

Remaking France

Americanization, public diplomacy, and the marshall plan, mckenzie, b..

Remembering a Vanished World

A jewish childhood in interwar poland, hamerow, t., subjects: jewish studies history: 20th century to present memory studies.

Remembering and Forgetting Nazism

Education, national identity, and the victim myth in postwar austria, utgaard, p..

Remembering Karelia

A family's story of displacement during and after the finnish wars, armstrong, k..

Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants

Returning to the jewish past in spain and portugal, kandiyoti, d. & benmayor, r. (eds).

In 2015, both Portugal and Spain passed laws enabling descendants of Sephardi Jews to obtain citizenship, an historic offer of reconciliation. Drawing from scholarly and first-person essays, Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants analyzes the memory and afterlives of those who were wronged, and how reconciliatory rights impact the lives of those affected.

Subjects: History (General) Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

Repressed, Remitted, Rejected

German reparations debts to poland and greece, roth, k. h. & rübner, h..

Greece and Poland have recently reignited debates on minimally settled reparations demands resulting from suffering under the terror of Nazi occupation during the Second World War. Using an international law perspective, this expansive volume reconstructs the German occupation of Poland and Greece and confronts German aversions to reparations debt.

Resettlers and Survivors

Bukovina and the politics of belonging in west germany and israel, 1945–1989.

Resettlers and Survivors focuses on two groups of Bukovinians—ethnic Germans and German-speaking Jews—who navigated dramatically changed political and social circumstances in 1945. This study gives a nuanced account of how they dealt with the difficult legacies of World War II, while exploring Bukovina’s significance for them as both a geographical location and a “place of memory.”

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Jewish Studies Refugee and Migration Studies Memory Studies

Resisting Persecution

Jews and their petitions during the holocaust, pegelow kaplan, t. & gruner, w. (eds).

This volume offers the first extensive analysis of entreaties from persecuted Jews in the Nazi era, demonstrating their largely unappreciated value as a historical source and as an attempt to reclaim agency in increasingly desperate political circumstances.

The Respectable Career of Fritz K.

The making and remaking of a provincial nazi leader, berghoff, h. & rauh, c..

Entrepreneur and Nazi functionary Fritz Kiehn lived through almost 100 years of German history, from the Bismarck era to the late Bonn Republic. Kiehn's biography provides a key to understanding the political upheavals of the 20th century, especially the workings of the corrupt Nazi system as well as the "coming to terms" with National Socialism in the Federal Republic.

Restitution and Memory

Material restoration in europe, diner, d. & wunberg, g. (eds).

Rethinking Antifascism

History, memory and politics, 1922 to the present, garcía, h., yusta, m., tabet, x., & climaco, c. (eds).

Rethinking Antifascism surveys recent research on the anti-fascist movement between 1922 and 1945. It first challenges the revisionist view of anti-fascism as a tool of Stalinism, then discusses the post-War memories and political uses of anti-fascism. These essays historicize anti-fascism as a transnational movement that shaped contemporary democracies.

Rethinking Holocaust Justice

Essays across disciplines, goda, n. j. w. (ed).

In the past two decades, the subject of post-Holocaust justice has experienced a surge of interest among historians and legal scholars. Rethinking Holocaust Justice offers a multifaceted approach to post-Holocaust justice, bringing together leading scholars from a variety of disciplines to explore the complexity of these issues.

Subjects: Genocide History History: 20th Century to Present Jewish Studies

Rethinking International Organizations

Pathology and promise, dijkzeul, d. & beigbeder, y. (ed).

Rethinking Jewishness in Weimar Cinema

Hales, b. & weinstein, v. (eds).

The film industry in the Weimar Republic was a major site for German-Jewish experience that provided a sphere for Jewish "outsiders" to shape mainstream culture. The essays in Rethinking Jewishness in Weimar Cinema offer new historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the significant involvement of Jewish people in Weimar cinema.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies Jewish Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Rethinking Social Movements after '68

Selves and solidarities in west germany and beyond, davis, b., brühöfener, f., & milder, s. (eds).

With a focus on West Germany and Europe, Social Movements after ’68 bridges the 1970s and 1980s as a vital period of European political development and social change. Looking past the known ruptures and changes in the history of European social movements, this volume brings together interconnected social movements including environmental, women’s and gay rights movements.

Rethinking Vienna 1900

Beller, s. (ed).

The Return of Berlusconi

Bellucci, p. & bull, m. (eds).

The Return of Jazz

Joachim-ernst berendt and west german cultural change, wright hurley, a., subjects: cultural studies (general) performance studies history: 20th century to present.

The Return of Politics

Hine, d. & vassallo, s. (eds).

A Reversal of Fortunes?

Women, work, and change in east germany, subjects: gender studies and sexuality history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

Revisiting Austria

Tourism, space, and national identity, 1945 to the present.

Revisiting Austria draws on a rich selection of films, marketing materials, literature, and first-person accounts to explore the ways in which tourism has shaped both international and domestic perceptions of Austrian identity even as it has failed to confront the nation’s often violent and troubled history.

Subjects: Travel and Tourism History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies

Revolution and Counterrevolution

Class struggle in a moscow metal factory.

The Revolution before the Revolution

Late authoritarianism and student protest in portugal, accornero, g..

Portugal’s 1974 “Carnation Revolution” was in many ways the culmination of a much longer history of resistance originating in universities and other sectors of society. Combining careful research with insights from social movement theory, this book traces these convulsions in Portuguese society over the course of the “long 1960s.”

A Revolution of Perception?

Consequences and echoes of 1968, gilcher-holtey, i. (ed).

Exploring the effects the protest movement of 1968 had on the political, social, and symbolic order of the societies they called into question, this volume focuses on the consequences and echoes of 1968 from different perspectives, including history, sociology, and linguistics.

Rhodes Scholars, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite

Schaeper, t. & schaeper, k., subjects: educational studies history: 20th century to present cultural studies (general).

The Rhythm of Eternity

The german youth movement and the experience of the past, 1900-1933, adriaansen, r.-j..

The Weimar era in Germany is often characterized as a time of significant change. Such periods of rupture transform the way people envision the past, present, and future. This book traces the conceptions of time and history during the German youth movement of the early 20th century.

The Rich and the Poor in Modern Europe, 1890-2020

A historian’s response to recent debates among economists, kaelble, h..

While it is easy to accept that modern capitalism is the perpetrator of sociality inequality’s growth today, The Rich and the Poor reconsiders the constructs and facts that led to dramatic rises and crashes in the twentieth century European economic history.

The Right to Memory

History, media, law, and ethics, tirosh, n. & reading, a. (eds).

The Right to Memory looks beyond everyday memory and commemoration practices, focusing instead on how memory relates to human rights and socio-legal constructs in order to legitimize and protect groups and individuals.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Memory Studies Media Studies

The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany

Fischer, c. (ed).

Risk on the Table

Food production, health, and the environment, creager, a. n. h. & gaudilière, j.-p. (eds).

From the proliferation of synthetic additives to the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the chapters in Risk on the Table zero in on key historical cases in North America and Europe that illuminate the history of food safety, highlighting the powerful tension that exists between policymakers’ decisions and cultural notions of “pure” food.

Subjects: Environmental Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present Food & Nutrition

Routes Into the Abyss

Coping with crises in the 1930s, konrad, h. & maderthaner, w. (eds).

Ruptures in the Everyday

Views of modern germany from the ground, bergerson, a. s. & schmieding, l..

Throughout the twentieth century, Germans underwent constant disruptions in their lives, and many struggled to integrate their experiences into coherent narratives. Ruptures in the Everyday brings together twenty-six interdisciplinary researchers in an innovative, collectively authored work of scholarship that investigates Alltag—everyday life—through such fragmentary experiences.

Rural Property and Economy in Post-communist Albania

Lemel. h. w. (ed).

The Russian Cold

Histories of ice, frost, and snow, herzberg, j., renner, a., & schierle, i. (eds).

Cold has long been a fixture of Russian identity both within and beyond the nation, even as the ongoing effects of climate change complicate its meaning and cultural salience. The Russian Cold assembles fascinating new contributions from a variety of scholarly traditions, offering new perspectives on how to understand this mainstay of Russian culture and history.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Environmental Studies (General)

Sacrifice and Rebirth

The legacy of the last habsburg war, cornwall, m. & newman, j. p. (eds).

When Austria-Hungary broke up at the end of the First World War, six “successor states” tried to make sense of the last Habsburg war while preparing for life in a new Europe. This book is the first of its kind to analyze how the Great War was interpreted, commemorated, or forgotten across all the ex-Habsburg territories.

A Sad Fiasco

Colonial concentration camps in southern africa, 1900–1908, kreienbaum, j..

Comparative studies on concentration camps have tended to neglect the African colonial experience at the turn of the twentieth century. A Sad Fiasco delves deeper into the daily lives led in the colonial concentration camps in southern Africa and the motives behind the mass extinction of thousands of internees.  

Samizdat, Tamizdat, and Beyond

Transnational media during and after socialism, kind-kovács, f. & labov, j. (eds).

Sartre Against Stalinism

Birchall, i. h..

Screened Encounters

The leipzig documentary film festival, 1955-1990.

Established in 1955, the Leipzig Film Festival’s location in the GDR deeply implicated it in the cultural and political competition between East and West Germany. Screened Encounters offers a comprehensive study of the festival’s history, as well as its influence on international relations during the Cold War.

Screening Art

Modernist aesthetics and the socialist imaginary in east german cinema.

Screening Art represents the first full-length study of films about art and artists produced by the state-owned Eastern German film studio DEFA. It investigates the essential role that these “art films” played in the development of new paradigms of socialist art in post-war Europe.

Screening the East

Heimat , memory and nostalgia in german film since 1989.

The Second Berlusconi Government

Blondel, j. (ed).

The Second Generation

Émigrés from nazi germany as historians with a biobibliographic guide, daum, a. w., lehmann, h., & sheehan, j. j. (eds).

Of the thousands of young people who fled Nazi Germany before World War II, a remarkable number became trained historians. By placing autobiographical testimonies alongside historical and professional analysis, this richly varied collection comprises the first sustained effort to illuminate the role these men and women played in modern historiography.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present

Selling the Economic Miracle

Economic reconstruction and politics in west germany, 1949-1957, spicka, m. e..

The Servants of Empire

Sponsored german women’s colonization in southwest africa, 1896-1945, odonnell, k. m..

In the late 1890s through the 1940s, Germany enacted race-based population policies in Southwest Africa which instrumentalized German women as colonists. The Servants of Empire engages the history of these colonial operatives, mostly comprised of poor, white women, as they became an unsettling force in colonial settlements and contributed to the rise of the German embrace of genocide, National Socialism, and apartheid.

Sex, Thugs & Rock 'n' Roll

Teenage rebels in cold-war east germany, fenemore, m., subjects: history: 20th century to present gender studies and sexuality cultural studies (general).

Sexual Knowledge

Feeling, fact, and social reform in vienna, 1900-1934.

Shadowlands

Memory and history in post-soviet estonia.

The Baltic state of Estonia has been profoundly shaped by the conflicts and shifting political fortunes of the last century. This innovative study traces the interaction of historical memory and national identity in a sweeping analysis that foregrounds the country’s intellectuals, who until recently could not openly grapple with their nation’s complex, difficult past.

Shaping the Transnational Sphere

Experts, networks and issues from the 1840s to the 1930s, rodogno, d., struck, b. & vogel, j. (eds).

In the second half of the nineteenth century a new kind of social and cultural actor came to the fore: the expert. During this period complex processes of modernization, industrialization, urbanization, and nation-building gained pace, particularly in Western Europe and North America. These processes created new forms of specialized expertise that grew in demand and became indispensible in fields like sanitation, incarceration, urban planning, and education.

Silenced Communities

Legacies of militarization and militarism in a rural guatemalan town, esparza, m..

Silenced Communities offers an ethnographic account of the failed demilitarization of the rural militia in the town of Santo Tomás Chichicastenango following the Guatemalan Civil War. Author Marcia Esparza explores how legacies of grassroots militarization affect indigenous communities exploited by the internal colonialism prevalent in Latin American societies.

Sisters in Arms

Militant feminisms in the federal republic of germany since 1968, karcher, k..

Drawing on a wealth of new source material, Sisters in Arms gives a bracing account of how radical feminism was enacted by key German leftist organizations, such as the infamous Red Army Faction and June 2 Movement. These groups often diverged ideologically and tactically, but all demonstrated the potency of militant feminism within postwar protest movements.

Sites of Modernity—Places of Risk

Risk and security in germany since the 1970s, geyer, m. h. (ed).

Institutions with long traditions of calculating risk such as insurance firms, policing authorities, and prisons are at the center of debates surrounding the fields of security, risk, and emergencies. Starting with the 1970s, Sites of Modernity—Places of Risk innovates against these sprawling and changing debates and shows how attempts to manage and assess risk have shaped modernity.

The Social Construction of Diversity

Recasting the master narrative of industrial nations, harzig, c. & juteau, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present anthropology (general) sociology.

Social Democracy and Monetary Union

Notermans, t. (ed).

A Social History of Europe, 1945-2000

Recovery and transformation after two world wars.

Social History of German Jews

Social History of German Jews traces the social history of modern German Jews from the end of the 18th century up to the aftermath of World War II, and focusses on the ascent of German Jews into the middle and upper-middle classes through both adversity and manifold forms of Jewish self-assertion.

A Social History of Spanish Labour

New perspectives on class, politics, and gender, piqueras, j., & sanz rozalén, v. (eds).

Social Movement Studies in Europe

The state of the art, fillieule, o. & accornero, g. (eds).

This landmark volume is the first to comprehensively examine the field of social movement studies in a specifically European context. Combining comparative studies of significant issues and movements with focused national studies, this is a bold and uncommonly unified survey that will be essential for scholars and students of European social movements.

Socialist Escapes

Breaking away from ideology and everyday routine in eastern europe, 1945-1989, giustino, c. m., plum, c. j., & vari, a. (eds).

Sounds German

Popular music in postwar germany at the crossroads of the national and transnational, fulk, k. a. (ed).

Sounds German surveys the sociopolitical impact of music on German national identity, gender and sexuality, and transnational cultural production and consumption, expanding on the ways in which sounds, technologies, media practices, and exchanges of popular music provide a unique glimpse into the cultural dynamics of postwar Germany.

Sounds of Modern History

Auditory cultures in 19th- and 20th-century europe, morat, d. (ed).

Since the late 19th century, there has been a paradigmatic shift in auditory cultures and practices in European societies. This change was brought about by modern phenomena such as urbanization, industrialization and mechanization, the rise of modern sciences, and of course the emergence of new sound recording and transmission media. This book contributes to our understanding of modern European history through the lens of sound by examining diverse subjects such as performed and recorded music, auditory technologies like the telephone and stethoscope, and the ambient noise of the city.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies

Space and Spatiality in Modern German-Jewish History

Lässig, s. & rürup, m. (eds).

This wide-ranging volume revisits both literal and metaphorical spaces in modern German history, working from an expansive concept of “the spatial” to examine the ways in which Jewishness has been attributed to them, and what the implications have been in different eras and social contexts.

Subjects: Jewish Studies History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century

Spanish Laughter

Humor and its sense in modern spain, calvo maturana, a. (ed).

Exploring various forms of humor in Modern Spain since their entry into the eighteenth-century public sphere, Spanish Laughter takes on the comforting, transgressive, conservative, rebellious, and other dynamic forms of humor as they have changed and contributed to the building of Spain’s cultural framework and historiographical panorama.

The Spirit of the Berlin Republic

Stardom in Postwar France

Gaffney, j. & holmes, d. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present film and television studies cultural studies (general).

State and Minorities in Communist East Germany

Dennis, m. & laporte, n..

A State of Peace in Europe

West germany and the csce, 1966-1975, hakkarainen, p..

Still Waiting for the Transformation

Fusaro, c. & kreppel, a. (eds).

Stories between Tears and Laughter

Popular czech cinema and film critics, vojvoda, r..

Stories between Tears and Laughter strikes new ground in the history of Czech cinema focusing on the historically underrepresented post-socialist era following the 1960s to reveal the discourse of cultural value through which popular Czech films were being evaluated.

Subjects: Film and Television Studies Media Studies History: 20th Century to Present

A Stranger in Paris

Germany's role in republican france, 1870-1940.

Strike Action and Nation Building

Labor unrest in palestine/israel, 1899-1951.

Strike-action has long been a notable phenomenon in Israeli society, despite forces that have weakened its recurrence, such as the Arab-Jewish conflict, the decline of organized labor, and the increase of precarious workers. This book unravels the trajectory of the strikes in the first half of the twentieth century as a rich source for the social-historical analysis of an otherwise nation-oriented and highly politicized history.

The Struggle for a Democratic Austria

Bruno kreisky on peace and social justice, berg, m. p. (ed).

Subjects, Citizens, and Others

Administering ethnic heterogeneity in the british and habsburg empires, 1867-1918, gammerl, b..

Exploring racism, migration, and citizenship, Subjects, Citizens and Others offers a pioneering analysis of how the British and the Austro-Hungarian Empire governed their ethnically diverse populations. Author Benno Gammerl rejects common assumptions about ethnic exclusivity in Eastern and Western Europe, analyzing the legal and political conditions that help to foster ethnic heterogeneity.

Subjects: History: 18th/19th Century Colonial History History: 20th Century to Present

Supervision and Authority in Industry

Western european experiences, 1830-1939, eeckhout, p. van den (ed), subjects: history (general) history: 18th/19th century history: 20th century to present.

Sweden after Nazism

Politics and culture in the wake of the second world war, östling, j..

World War II—and particularly the specter of Nazism—changed Swedish society profoundly. This definitive study follows Swedish culture from its affinity for Germany to a framing of Nazism as a discredited, distinctively German phenomenon rooted in militarism and Romanticism.

Tailoring Truth

Politicizing the past and negotiating memory in east germany, 1945-1990, olsen, j. b..

By looking at state-sponsored memory projects, such as memorials, commemorations, and historical museums, this book reveals that the East German communist regime obsessively monitored and attempted to control public representations of the past to legitimize its rule.

Taking on Technocracy

Nuclear power in germany, 1945 to the present, augustine, d. l..

Taking on Technocracy addresses changing attitudes towards nuclear energy in the age of global warming.  The German decision to abandon nuclear power is placed in a historical context, including popularization of science, new social movements, media, policing, gender, and the history of emotions.

Tax Justice and the Political Economy of Global Capitalism, 1945 to the Present

Leaman, j. & waris, a. (eds).

Teaching Modernization

Spanish and latin american educational reform in the cold war, martín garcía, ó. j. & gómez-escalonilla, l. d. (eds).

Amid the Cold War and global student protests, transnational forces significantly shaped the modernization of educational systems in Spain and Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s. Each study sheds new light on the transnational circulation of modernization discourses, practices, and ideology within the sphere of education.

Technocrats in Office

Virgilio, a. di & radaelli, c. m. (eds).

Television's Moment

Sitcom audiences and the sixties cultural revolution, hodenberg, c. von.

Television was one of the forces shaping the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, when a blockbuster TV series could reach up to a third of a country’s population. This book explores television’s impact on social change by comparing three sitcoms and their audiences.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies Film and Television Studies

Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War

Goals, expectations, practices, cattaruzza, m., dyroff, s. & langewiesche, d. (eds).

Territory, State and Nation

The geopolitics of rudolf kjellén, björk, r. & lundén, t. (eds).

Rudolf Kjellén, regularly referred to as “the father of geopolitics”, developed in the first decade of the twentieth century an analytical model for calculating the capabilities of great-power states and promoting their interests in the international arena. Territory, State and Nation explores his century-long international scholarly impact, his analytical model, and his analyses of contemporary history.

Terror From the Sky

The bombing of german cities in world war ii, primoratz, i. (ed).

Thinking Europe

A history of the european idea since 1800.

This title assesses the idea of Europe through its intellectual history. Exploring the concept of integration and the relationship between this and arguments for division and borders it reveals their interplay in the composition of the contemporary European identity.

Thinking Utopia

Steps into other worlds, rüsen, j., fehr, m. & rieger, t. w. (eds).

The Third World in the Global 1960s

Christiansen, s. & scarlett, z. (eds), subjects: history: 20th century to present sociology history (general).

Towards a Collaborative Memory

German memory work in a transnational context.

For the first time, this volume creates a sustained study that positions together transnational memory and relational sociology to consider the memory of the GDR. Towards a Collaborative Memory advances the field of transnational memory studies and develops new theoretical approaches that re-evaluate our understanding of actor-driven European memory.

Subjects: Memory Studies Colonial History History: 20th Century to Present

Transactions, Transgressions, Transformation

American culture in western europe and japan, fehrenbach, h. & poiger, u. (eds).

Transcending the Nostalgic

Landscapes of postindustrial europe beyond representation, jaramillo, g. s. & tomann, j. (eds).

This collection explores the affective and “more-than-representational” dimensions of post-industrial landscapes, analyzing narratives, practices, social formations, and other phenomena. Focusing on case studies from across Europe, it examines both the objective and the subjective aspects of societies that produce fewer things and employ fewer workers.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Heritage Studies

Transformation of the German Political Party System

Institutional crisis or democratic renewal, allen, c. s. (ed).

Transformations and Crises

The left and the nation in denmark and sweden, 1956-1980, jørgensen, t. e..

The Transnational Condition

Protest dynamics in an entangled europe, teune, s. (ed).

Transnational Struggles for Recognition

New perspectives on civil society since the 20th century, gosewinkel, d. & rucht, d. (eds).

“Recognition” is a critical concept for social movements, and while its theoretical and empirical dimensions have usually been studied separately, this collection focuses on both against a transnational backdrop. With special emphasis on the efforts of women’s and Jewish organizations in 20th-century Europe, it demonstrates exemplary historical-analytical approaches to the subject.

Traumatic Pasts in Asia

History, psychiatry, and trauma from the 1930s to the present, micale, m. s. & pols, h. (eds).

Traumatic Pasts in Asia extends Euro-American paradigms of traumatic experience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, explores how these new terrains of investigation inform and enrich earlier understandings.

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present Memory Studies Medical Anthropology

Balancing Church and Politics in a Pomeranian World, 1807-1948

Thadden, r. von.

“ The story [the author] tells is rich and fascinating…[He] traces very effectively the economic evolution of Junker agriculture across the generations…I learned a lot from the book. ”  ·  Jonathan Steinberg , author of Bismarck. A Life

Tropics of Vienna

Colonial utopias of the habsburg empire, bach, u. e..

Though not a conventional colonial power, the Austrian Empire had a metropole-periphery structure that shaped its cultural and intellectual life. This book illuminates colonial utopian writing in the work of Roth, Herzl, and others, revealing a shared longing for alternative social and spatial configurations.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) History: 18th/19th Century History: 20th Century to Present

Reproducing the Nation and the Scandinavian Nationalist Populist Parties

Hellström, a..

In order to affect domestic politics, Scandinavian populist parties must cross the threshold to the national parliament while earning the nation’s trust. While the Progress Party in Norway and the Danish People’s Party have, the Sweden Democrats has not. The fissures in public opinion lead to a polarized public debate that raises the question of national identity, of what we are.

Twilight of the Merkel Era

Power and politics in germany after the 2017 bundestag election.

Elections always have consequences, but the 2017 Bundestag election in Germany proved particularly consequential. With political upheaval across the globe—notably in Britain and the USA—it was vital to European and global order that Germany remain stable.

Two Armies and One Fatherland

The end of the nationale volksarmee, schönbohm, j..

Two Lives in Uncertain Times

Facing the challenges of the 20th century as scholars and citizens, iggers, w., & iggers, g..

Understanding Multiculturalism

The habsburg central european experience, feichtinger, j. & cohen, g. b. (eds).

The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.

United and Divided

Germany since 1990, dennis m. & kolinsky, e. (eds).

United Germany

Debating processes and prospects.

Uniting Germany

Documents and debates, jarausch, k. & gransow, v..

Velvet Retro

Postsocialist nostalgia and the politics of heroism in czech popular culture.

This innovative study develops the concept of “retro” to describe the nuanced and ironic depiction of the past as seen in Czech popular culture. It locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.

Subjects: Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present Film and Television Studies Memory Studies

Vienna Is Different

Jewish writers in austria from the fin-de-siècle to the present, herzog, h. h., subjects: jewish studies history: 20th century to present literary studies.

Viktor Frankl's Search for Meaning

An emblematic 20th-century life.

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist and philosopher who survived the Holocaust and went on to found the third school of Viennese psychotherapy. By critically examining the details of his intellectual life, including some previously unknown biographical details, we can begin to see the fascinating ambiguities and contradictions in Frankl’s thought.

The Virago Story

Assessing the impact of a feminist publishing phenomenon.

The Virago Story provides a comprehensive history of classic feminist publisher Virago, along with an up-to-date analysis of the four waves of feminism, new strands of feminist analysis and praxis, and publishing trends.

Subjects: Gender Studies and Sexuality Cultural Studies (General) History: 20th Century to Present

Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990

Bozo, f., rey, m.-p., ludlow, n. p., & rother, b. (eds).

Voices in Times of Change

The role of writers, opposition movements, and the churches in the transformation of east germany, rock, d. (ed).

Voyage Through the Twentieth Century

A historian's recollections and reflections, klemperer, k. von.

The Walls of Santiago

Social revolution and political aesthetics in contemporary chile, gordon-zolov, t. & zolov, e..

The response in Chile to Santiago’s metro’s fare hike in October of 2019 has grown into a strong and multi-faceted resistance movement. Through incisive and topical analysis, the authors offer a beautiful catalog of photographs of the murals, graffiti, and other forms of political art, reflecting on these aesthetic traditions and their relationship to the broader context of global protest movements and the long shadow cast by memories of the Pinochet regime.

The Wars of Yesterday

The balkan wars and the emergence of modern military conflict, 1912-13, boeckh, k. & rutar, s. (eds).

Together comprising one of the first modern conflicts of the twentieth century, the Balkan Wars (1912–13) served as precursors of the bloody wars to follow. This volume offers a fascinating exploration of the wars’ history, with a central focus on the experiences of both combatants and civilians.

Wartime Captivity in the 20th Century

Archives, stories, memories, pathé, a.-m. & théofilakis, f. (eds).

In recent years, wartime captivity has taken on new urgency as a historical topic. This wide-ranging volume brings together an international selection of scholars to trace the contours of this evolving research agenda, offering fascinating new perspectives on historical moments ranging from the Great War to Guantanamo Bay.

Weaponizing the Past

Collective memory and jews, poles, and communists in twenty-first century poland, korycki, k..

Theorizing and explaining the process of collective memory of Poland’s communist past, Weaponizing the Past explores contemporary politicizations of the past, national belonging and the production of anti-Semitism.

Subjects: Memory Studies History: 20th Century to Present

Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects

Rethinking the political culture of germany in the 1920s, canning, k., barndt, k. & mcguire, k. (eds).

Weimar Radicals

Nazis and communists between authenticity and performance, brown, t. s..

What Remains

Responses to the legacy of christa wolf, fetz, g. a. & herminghouse, p. (eds).

In response to the legacy of Christa Wolf, What Remains addresses arguably the most important German writer in the period of since World War II until her death in 2011. Scholars across the U.S. and Europe address both the importance of her role in contributing to the cultural life of East Germany and the controversies surrounding her life and works in the aftermath of the collapse of East Germany and the process of German unification.

When They Came for Me

The hidden diary of an apartheid prisoner, schlapobersky, j. r..

Whilst a student in South Africa, John Schlapobersky was arrested for opposing apartheid and tortured, detained and deported. In this volume, apartheid and its resistance come to life in personal stories that make this a vital historical document - one of its time and one for our own.

White Eagle, Black Eagle

Ethnic relations in the german-polish borderlands.

Studying the German-Polish ethnic relations, this book analyses the people and region through their respective borderlands, migration, official cooperation and unofficial suspicions across the border.

Whose Memory? Which Future?

Remembering ethnic cleansing and lost cultural diversity in eastern, central and southeastern europe, törnquist-plewa, b. (ed).

Scholars have devoted considerable energy to understanding ethnic cleansing in Europe, yet much less attention has been given to how these incidents persist in collective memory today. This volume brings together case studies exploring how modern inhabitants “remember” instances of ethnic cleansing, and how they understand the heritage of groups that vanished in their wake.

The Witness as Object

Video testimony in memorial museums, jong, s. de.

Today more than ever before, the historical witness is now a “museum object” in the form of video interviews. With a focus on Holocaust museums, this study scrutinizes this new global phenomenon of the “musealisation” of testimony, exploring the processes, prerequisites, and consequences of video testimonies as exhibits.

Subjects: Museum Studies History: 20th Century to Present Media Studies Memory Studies

Women and Socialism - Socialism and Women

Europe between the world wars, gruber, h. & graves, p. (eds).

Women Migrants From East to West

Gender, mobility and belonging in contemporary europe, passerini, l., lyon, d., capussotti, e. & laliotou, i. (eds), subjects: refugee and migration studies gender studies and sexuality mobility studies history: 20th century to present.

The Women's Liberation Movement

Impacts and outcomes, schulz, k. (ed).

This collection represents the first systematic reflection on the impact and outcomes of the women’s liberation movement in different areas and topics of Western societies. It systematically investigates movement outcomes in one country in the light of a reflective social movement theory and compares them to developments in other countries.

Working Class Formation in Turkey, 1946-1962

Work, culture, and the politics of the everyday, alp özden, b..

Working Class Formation in Turkey explores the everyday practices of workers in Turkey from the End of War II to until just after the military interventions of 1960. Drawing a wide range of historical sources and moving beyond generalizations, this volume examines the contextual dynamics of the lives of Turkish workers during these critical decades.

Working for the Enemy

Ford, general motors, and forced labor in germany during the second world war, billstein, r., fings, k., kugler, a. & levis, n..

Working in Greece and Turkey

A comparative labour history from empires to nation-states, 1840–1940, papastefanaki, l. & kabadayı, m. e. (eds).

The studies in Working in Greece and Turkey provide an overdue exploration of labour history on both sides of the Aegean, before as well as after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Deploying the approaches of global labour history as a framework, this volume presents transnational, transcontinental, and diachronic comparisons that illuminate the shared history of Greece and Turkey.

The World beyond the West

Perspectives from eastern europe, kałczewiak, m. & kozłowska, m. (eds).

Exploring the evolution of Eastern European discourses in Asia, Africa and Latin America in nineteenth and twentieth century, this volume locates the mechanisms and strategies that diverse Eastern European social actors adopted when discussing the non-European world. The Eastern European perspective is not only an important addition to the study of orientalism and post coloniality, but the transnational links in-between Eastern Europe show the region’s importance to a global history.

A World of Populations

Transnational perspectives on demography in the twentieth century, hartmann, h. & unger, c. r. (eds).

Demographics were transformed into public policies that shaped family planning, population growth, medical practice, and environmental conservation. While covering a variety of regions and time periods, the essays in this book share an interest in the transnational dynamics of emerging demographic discourses and practices. Together, they present a global picture of the history of demographic knowledge.

Writing the Great War

The historiography of world war i from 1918 to the present, cornelissen, c. & weinrich, a. (eds).

The history of the First World War has been continually written and rewritten, producing a rich historiography shaped by the social and cultural circumstances of its creation. Writing the Great War provides a groundbreaking survey of this vast body of work, assembling contributions on a variety of national and regional historiographies from some of the most prominent scholars in the field.

Subjects: History: World War I History: 20th Century to Present

The Year of the Bulldozer

Hanretty, c. & profeti, s. (eds).

Yugoslavia without Yugoslavs

The history of a national idea, jezernik, b..

Following the idea of Yugoslavism since its first public usage in 1849, Yugoslavia without Yugoslavs explains why the concept of Yugoslavia competed with Slavic, Serbian, and Croatian nationalistic ideas and failed just five years after its first nation state was established

Subjects: History: 20th Century to Present History: 18th/19th Century History: World War I

29 Best 20th Century, History Books

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Table of Contents

20th Century, History is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top 20th Century, History audiobooks everyone must read.

See the top 29 20th Century, History audiobooks below.

Churchill, Eisenhower, and the Making of the Modern World

• By: Christopher Catherwood
• Narrator: Antony Ferguson
• Length: 8 hours 10 minutes
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
• Publish date: January 01, 2022
• Language: English
• 4.67 (3 ratings)

It is often said that the special bond between Britain and the United States was forged in war between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. But the closer link in many ways was that between Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower, since it existed both in wartime from 1941 to 1945 but also again in very different circumstances.

Between 1951 and 1955, Churchill was prime minister and Eisenhower was briefly the first supreme allied commander of NATO, before going back to the United States to win the 1952 presidential race. This overlapped in the White House with Churchill’s peacetime premiership from 1953 to 1955. And from 1945 to 1951, Churchill by his speeches and Eisenhower by his tenure as first-ever supreme allied commander Europe were continuing to create the new and stable global world order that held until now.

In other words, theirs was a much longer relationship than that between President Roosevelt and Churchill and spanning peace as well as war. And it was the Eisenhower and Churchill relationship that essentially created the world order that lasted down until current times.

Churchill and Eisenhower can also be seen as a passing of the baton, from Britain as the fading superpower to the dynamic new world of the United States. Churchill’s relationship with Eisenhower spans this transition perfectly and is the ideal prism through which to witness this change, in terms of how the balance between the United Kingdom and the United States altered both as countries and in personal terms between the two men themselves.

We Are the Troopers

• By: Stephen Guinan
• Narrator: Amy Landon
• Length: 9 hours 43 minutes
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Publish date: August 30, 2022
• 4.63 (25 ratings)

Discover the unlikely story of the Toledo Troopers, the winningest team in the National Women’s Football League, who won seven league championships in the 1970s–and gain full access to the players and key figures in the organization. Amid a national backdrop of the call to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, the National Women’s Football League was founded as something of a gimmick. However, the league’s star team, the Toledo Troopers, emerged to challenge traditional gender roles and amass a win-loss record never before or since achieved in American football. The players were housewives, factory workers, hairdressers, former nuns, high school teachers, bartenders, mail carriers, pilots, and would-be drill sergeants. Black, white, Latina. Mothers and daughters and aunts and sisters. But most of all, they were athletes who had been denied the opportunity to play a game they were born to play. Before the protests and the lobbyists, before the debates and the amendments, before the marches and the mandates, there was only an obscure advertisement in a local Midwestern paper and those who answered it, women such as Lee Hollar, the only woman working the line at the Libbey glass factory; Gloria Jimenez, who grew up playing sports with her six brothers; and Linda Jefferson, one the greatest, most accomplished athletes in sports history. Stephen Guinan grew up in Toledo pulling for his hometown football team, and–in the innocence of youth–did not realize at the time what a barrier-breaking lost piece of history he was witnessing. We Are the Troopers shines light on forgotten champions who came together for the love of the game.

On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 4

• By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Narrator: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Length: 2 hours 24 minutes
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Publish date: November 27, 2009
• 4.5 (2 ratings)

The legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar takes listeners back to the Harlem Renaissance-a time and place when jazz was king. Famed jazz critic Stanley Crouch narrates as Kareem shares thoughts on this distinctly American musical style and its profound influence. Also offering insights are such iconic figures as Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, and Maya Angelou.

On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 1

• Length: 2 hours 9 minutes
• Publish date: May 15, 2009
• 4.5 (6 ratings)

Basketball legend and New York Times bestselling author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recounts the birth of Harlem, from the boll weevil to the Great Migration, and discusses how Harlem influenced his life. “. a knowledgeable, passionate tour guide .”-New York Times

Waging a Good War

• By: Thomas E. Ricks
• Narrator: JD Jackson
• Length: 14 hours 9 minutes
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Publish date: October 04, 2022
• 4.44 (126 ratings)

This program is read by multiple-award-winning narrator JD Jackson.

#1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks offers a new take on the civil rights movement, stressing its unexpected use of military strategy and its lessons for nonviolent resistance around the world.

In Waging a Good War , bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks offers a fresh perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution–the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s–and its legacy today. While the movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning war reporter, draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to note the surprising affinities between that ethos and the organized pursuit of success at war. The greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century, he stresses, were won not by idealism alone, but by paying attention to recruiting, training, discipline, and organization–the hallmarks of any successful military campaign.

An engaging storyteller, Ricks deftly narrates the movement’s triumphs and defeats. He follows King and other key figures from Montgomery to Memphis, demonstrating that Gandhian nonviolence was a philosophy of active, not passive, resistance – involving the bold and sustained confrontation of the Movement’s adversaries, both on the ground and in the court of public opinion. While bringing legends such as Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis into new focus, Ricks also highlights lesser-known figures who played critical roles in fashioning nonviolence into an effective tool–the activists James Lawson, James Bevel, Diane Nash, and Septima Clark foremost among them. He also offers a new understanding of the Movement’s later difficulties as internal disputes and white backlash intensified. Rich with fresh interpretations of familiar events and overlooked aspects of America’s civil rights struggle, Waging a Good War is an indispensable addition to the literature of racial justice and social change–and one that offers vital lessons for our own time.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

• By: Daniel Yergin
• Narrator: Bob Jamieson
• Length: 2 hours 51 minutes
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Publish date: January 01, 1991
• 4.43 (8022 ratings)

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and hailed as “the best history of oil ever written” by Business Week, Daniel Yergin’s “spellbinding…irresistible” ( The New York Times ) account of the global pursuit of oil, money, and power addresses the ongoing energy crisis. Now with an epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, The Prize recounts the panoramic history of the world’s most important resource—oil. Daniel Yergin’s timeless book chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades and that continues to fuel global rivalries, shake the world economy, and transform the destiny of men and nations. This updated edition categorically proves the unwavering significance of oil throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first by tracing economic and political clashes over precious “black gold.” With his far-reaching insight and in-depth research, Yergin is uniquely positioned to address the present battle over energy which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most vital issues of our time. The canvas of his narrative history is enormous—from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm, and both the Iraq War and current climate change. The definitive work on the subject of oil, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement, and great value—crucial to our understanding of world politics and the economy today—and tomorrow.

The Glory and the Dream

• By: William Manchester
• Narrator: Jeff Riggenbach
• Length: 57 hours 23 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 1994
• 4.43 (1576 ratings)

This great time capsule of a book captures the abundant popular history of the United States from 1932 to 1972. It encompasses politics, military history, economics, the arts, science, fashion, fads, social change, sexual mores, communications, graffiti—everything and anything indigenous that can be captured in print.

Masterfully compressing four crowded decades of our history, The Glory and the Dream relives the epic, significant, or just memorable events that befell the generation of Americans whose lives pivoted between the America before and the America after the Second World War. From the Great Depression through the second inauguration of Richard M. Nixon, Manchester breathes life into this great period of America’s growth.

Operation Swallow

• By: Mark Felton
• Narrator: Fred Sanders
• Length: 8 hours 34 minutes
• Publish date: October 15, 2019
• 4.39 (42 ratings)

The true and heroic story of American POWs’ daring escape from a Nazi concentration camp. In this little-known story from World War II, a group of American POW camp leaders risk everything to save hundreds of fellow servicemen from a diabolical Nazi concentration camp. Their story begins in the dark forests of the Ardennes during Christmas 1944 and ends at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the spring of 1945. This appalling chapter of US military history and uplifting Holocaust story deserves to be widely known and understood. Operation Swallow provides a historical, first person perspective of how American GIs stood up against their evil SS captors who were forcing them to work as slave laborers. A young GI is thrust into a leadership position and leads his fellow servicemen on a daring escape. It is a story filled with courage, sacrifice, torture, despair, and salvation. A compelling narrative-driven nonfiction book has not been written that takes the reader deep into the dark story of Operation ‘Swallow’ and Berga Concentration Camp–until now. Written from personal testimonies and official documents, Operation Swallow is a tale replete with high adventure, compelling characters, human drama, tragedy, and eventual salvation, from the pen of a master of the modern military narrative.

The Broken Heart of America

• By: Walter Johnson
• Narrator: Jamie Renell
• Length: 15 hours 46 minutes
• Publish date: April 14, 2020
• 4.38 (1142 ratings)

A searing portrait of the racial dynamics that lie inescapably at the heart of our nation, told through the turbulent history of the city of St. Louis. From Lewis and Clark’s 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation’s past. St. Louis was a staging post for Indian removal and imperial expansion, and its wealth grew on the backs of its poor black residents, from slavery through redlining and urban renewal. But it was once also America’s most radical city, home to anti-capitalist immigrants, the Civil War’s first general emancipation, and the nation’s first general strike–a legacy of resistance that endures. A blistering history of a city’s rise and decline, The Broken Heart of America will forever change how we think about the United States.

Three Days in Moscow

• By: Bret Baier
• Narrator: Bret Baier
• Length: 12 hours 37 minutes
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Publish date: May 15, 2018
• 4.37 (1146 ratings)

President Reagan’s dramatic battle to win the Cold War is revealed as never before by the #1 bestselling author and award-winning anchor of the #1 rated Special Report with Bret Baier.

“An instant classic, if not the finest book to date on Ronald Reagan.” — Jay Winik

Moscow, 1988: 1,000 miles behind the Iron Curtain, Ronald Reagan stood for freedom and confronted the Soviet empire.

In his acclaimed bestseller Three Days in January , Bret Baier illuminated the extraordinary leadership of President Dwight Eisenhower at the dawn of the Cold War. Now in his highly anticipated new history, Three Days in Moscow , Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today.

On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable–yet now largely forgotten–speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital. This fourth in a series of summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, was a dramatic coda to their tireless efforts to reduce the nuclear threat. More than that, Reagan viewed it as “a grand historical moment”: an opportunity to light a path for the Soviet people–toward freedom, human rights, and a future he told them they could embrace if they chose. It was the first time an American president had given an address about human rights on Russian soil. Reagan had once called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” Now, saying that depiction was from “another time,” he beckoned the Soviets to join him in a new vision of the future. The importance of Reagan’s Moscow speech was largely overlooked at the time, but the new world he spoke of was fast approaching; the following year, in November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, leaving the United States the sole superpower on the world stage.

Today, the end of the Cold War is perhaps the defining historical moment of the past half century, and must be understood if we are to make sense of America’s current place in the world, amid the re-emergence of US-Russian tensions during Vladimir Putin’s tenure. Using Reagan’s three days in Moscow to tell the larger story of the president’s critical and often misunderstood role in orchestrating a successful, peaceful ending to the Cold War, Baier illuminates the character of one of our nation’s most venerated leaders–and reveals the unique qualities that allowed him to succeed in forming an alliance for peace with the Soviet Union, when his predecessors had fallen short.

• By: Tony Judt
• Narrator: Ralph Cosham
• Length: 43 hours 1 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2010
• 4.37 (10033 ratings)

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize – Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award – One of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year”Impressive . . . Mr. Judt writes with enormous authority.” –The Wall Street Journal”Magisterial . . . It is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive, authoritative, and yes, readable postwar history.” –The Boston Globe

Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world’s most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep listeners through thirty-four nations and sixty years of political and cultural change–all in one integrated, enthralling narrative. The book incorporates international relations, domestic politics, ideas, social change, economic development, and culture–high and low. Every country has its chance to play the lead, and although the big themes are superbly handled–including the cold war, the love/hate relationship with America, cultural and economic malaise and rebirth, and the myth and reality of unification–none of them is allowed to overshadow the rich pageant that is the whole. Vividly and clearly written for the general listener, witty, opinionated, and full of fresh and surprising stories and asides, Postwar is a movable feast for lovers of history and lovers of Europe alike.

Both intellectually ambitious and compelling, thrilling in its scope and delightful in its small details, Postwar is a rare joy.

Making of the Atomic Bomb

• By: Richard Rhodes
• Narrator: Holter Graham
• Length: 37 hours 16 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2016
• 4.37 (17084 ratings)

The definitive history of nuclear weapons and the Manhattan Project. From the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan, Richard Rhodes’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This sweeping account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and continues to World War Two and the Americans’ race to beat Hitler’s Nazis. That competition launched the Manhattan Project and the nearly overnight construction of a vast military-industrial complex that culminated in the fateful dropping of the first bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Reading like a character-driven suspense novel, the book introduces the players in this saga of physics, politics, and human psychology–from FDR and Einstein to the visionary scientists who pioneered quantum theory and the application of thermonuclear fission, including Planck, Szilard, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, Meitner, von Neumann, and Lawrence. From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bom b provides a panoramic backdrop for that story. Richard Rhodes’s ability to craft compelling biographical portraits is matched only by his rigorous scholarship. Told in rich human, political, and scientific detail that any reader can follow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a thought-provoking and masterful work.

The Last Jew of Treblinka

• By: Chil Rajchman
• Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
• Length: 3 hours 4 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2017
• 4.35 (3642 ratings)

Quickly becoming a cornerstone of Holocaust historiography, this is a devastatingly stark memoir from one of the lone survivors of Treblinka.

Why do some live while so many others perish? Tiny children, old men, beautiful girls–in the gas chambers of Treblinka, all are equal. The Nazis kept the fires of Treblinka burning night and day, a central cog in the wheel of the Final Solution.

In the tradition of Elie Wiesel’s Night and Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Saved , Rajchman provides the only survivors’ record of Treblinka. Originally written in Yiddish in 1945 without hope or agenda other than to bear witness, Rajchman’s account shows that sometimes the bravest and most painful act of all is to remember.

• By: Paul Kengor
• Narrator: Buck Groat
• Length: 25 hours 22 minutes
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Publish date: September 08, 2020
• 4.35 (109 ratings)

“In this startling, intensively researched book, bestselling historian Paul Kengor shines light on a deeply troubling aspect of American history: the prominent role of the “dupe.” From the Bolshevik Revolution through the Cold War and right up to the present, many progressives have unwittingly aided some of America’s most dangerous opponents.

Based on never-before-published FBI files, Soviet archives, and other primary sources, Dupes reveals

* Shocking reports on how Senator Ted Kennedy secretly approached the Soviet leadership to undermine not one but two American presidents * Stunning new evidence that Frank Marshall Davis–mentor to a young Barack Obama–had extensive Communist ties and demonized Democrats * Jimmy Carter’s woeful record dealing with America’s two chief foes of the past century, Communism and Islamism * Today’s dupes, including the congressmen whose overseas anti-American propaganda trip was allegedly financed by foreign intelligence * How Franklin Roosevelt was duped by “Uncle Joe” Stalin–and by a top adviser who may have been a Soviet agent–despite clear warnings from fellow Democrats * How John Kerry’s accusations that American soldiers committed war crimes in Vietnam may have been the product of Soviet disinformation * The many Hollywood stars who were duped, including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly–and even Ronald Reagan”

The Internationalists

• By: Oona A. Hathaway
• Narrator: Amanda Carlin
• Length: 19 hours 54 minutes
• 4.32 (408 ratings)

“An original book…about individuals who used ideas to change the world” ( The New Yorker )–the fascinating exploration into the creation and history of the Paris Peace Pact, an often overlooked but transformative treaty that laid the foundation for the international system we live under today. In 1928, the leaders of the world assembled in Paris to outlaw war. Within the year, the treaty signed that day, known as the Peace Pact, had been ratified by nearly every state in the world. War, for the first time in history, had become illegal. But within a decade of its signing, each state that had gathered in Paris to renounce war was at war . And in the century that followed, the Peace Pact was dismissed as an act of folly and an unmistakable failure. This book argues that the Peace Pact ushered in a sustained march toward peace that lasts to this day. A “thought-provoking and comprehensively researched book” ( The Wall Street Journal ), The Internationalists tells the story of the Peace Pact through a fascinating and diverse array of lawyers, politicians, and intellectuals. It reveals the centuries-long struggle of ideas over the role of war in a just world order. It details the brutal world of conflict the Peace Pact helped extinguish, and the subsequent era where tariffs and sanctions take the place of tanks and gunships. The Internationalists is “indispensable” ( The Washington Post ). Accessible and gripping, this book will change the way we view the history of the twentieth century–and how we must work together to protect the global order the internationalists fought to make possible. “A fascinating and challenging book, which raises gravely important issues for the present…Given the state of the world, The Internationalists has come along at the right moment” ( The Financial Times ).

When Brooklyn Was Queer

• By: Hugh Ryan
• Narrator: Hugh Ryan
• Length: 11 hours 30 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2019
• 4.31 (1073 ratings)

The never-before-told story of Brooklyn’s vibrant and forgotten queer history, from the mid-1850s up to the present day

Hugh Ryan’s When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and beyond. No other book, movie, or exhibition has ever told this sweeping story. Not only has Brooklyn always lived in the shadow of queer Manhattan neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and Harlem, but there has also been a systematic erasure of its queer history–a great forgetting.

Ryan is here to unearth that history for the first time. In intimate, evocative, moving prose he discusses in new light the fundamental questions of what history is, who tells it, and how we can only make sense of ourselves through its retelling; and shows how the formation of the Brooklyn we know today is inextricably linked to the stories of the incredible people who created its diverse neighborhoods and cultures. Through them, When Brooklyn Was Queer brings Brooklyn’s queer past to life, and claims its place as a modern classic.

The Number Ones

• By: Tom Breihan
• Narrator: Ray Stoney
• Length: 11 hours 10 minutes
• Publish date: November 15, 2022
• 4.3 (243 ratings)

Beloved music critic Tom Breihan’s fascinating narrative of the history of popular music through the lens of game-changing #1 singles from the Billboard Hot 100. When Tom Breihan launched his Stereogum column in early 2018, “The Number Ones”–a space in which he has been writing about every #1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, in chronological order–he figured he’d post capsule-size reviews for each song. But there was so much more to uncover. The column has taken on a life of its own, sparking online debate and occasional death threats. The Billboard Hot 100 began in 1958, and after four years of posting the column, Breihan is still in the early aughts. But readers no longer have to wait for his brilliant synthesis of what the history of #1s has meant to music and our culture. In The Number Ones , Breihan writes about twenty pivotal #1s throughout chart history, revealing a remarkably fluid and connected story of music that is as entertaining as it is enlightening. The Numbers Ones features the greatest pop artists of all time, from the Brill Building songwriters to the Beatles and the Beach Boys; from Motown to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Mariah Carey; and from the digital revolution to the K-pop system. Breihan also ponders great artists who have never hit the top spot, like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown. Breihan illuminates what makes indelible ear candy across the decades–including dance crazes, recording innovations, television phenomena, disco, AOR, MTV, rap, compact discs, mp3s, social media, memes, and much more–leaving readers to wonder what could possibly happen next.

On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 2

• Length: 2 hours 22 minutes
• Publish date: May 29, 2009
• 4.3 (10 ratings)

New York Times best-selling author and NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar examines some of the leading political and cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance-including Marcus Garvey,W.E.B. Du Bois, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Langston Hughes, and many more.

Hope and History

• By: William J. vanden Heuvel
• Narrator: Donald Corren
• Length: 11 hours 15 minutes
• 4.3 (18 ratings)

Hope and History is both a memoir and a call-to-action for the renewal of faith in democracy and America.

US Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel presents his most important public speeches and writings, compiled and presented over eight decades of adventure and public service, woven together with anecdotes of his colorful life as a second-generation American, a soldier, a lawyer, a political activist, and a diplomat. He touches upon themes that resonate as much today as they did when he first encountered them: the impact of heroes and mentors, the tragedy of the Vietnam War, the problems of racism and desegregation in America, tackling the crisis in America’s prisons, America and the Holocaust, and the plight and promise of the United Nations. Along the way, he allows us to share his journey with some of the great characters of American history: Eleanor Roosevelt, William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan, President John F. Kennedy and RFK, Harry S. Truman, and Jimmy Carter.

Throughout, vanden Heuvel persuades us that there is still room for optimism in public life. He shows how individuals, himself among them, have tackled some of America’s most intractable domestic and foreign policy issues with ingenuity and goodwill, particularly under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and those who sought and still seek to follow in his footsteps. He is not afraid to challenge the hatred and bigotry that are an unfortunate but undeniable part of the American fabric. He exhorts us to embrace all the challenges and opportunities that life in the United States can offer.

Brothers Down

• By: Walter R. Borneman
• Narrator: David Baker
• Length: 7 hours 56 minutes
• Publish date: May 14, 2019
• 4.3 (159 ratings)

A deeply personal and never-before-told account of one of America’s darkest days, from the bestselling author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War . The surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 remains one of the most traumatic events in American history. America’s battleship fleet was crippled, thousands of lives were lost, and the United States was propelled into a world war. Few realize that aboard the iconic, ill-fated USS Arizona were an incredible seventy-nine blood relatives. Tragically, in an era when family members serving together was an accepted, even encouraged, practice, sixty-three of the Arizona’s 1,177 dead turned out to be brothers. In Brothers Down , acclaimed historian Walter R. Borneman returns to that critical week of December, masterfully guiding us on an unforgettable journey of sacrifice and heroism, all told through the lives of these brothers and their fateful experience on the Arizona. Weaving in the heartbreaking stories of the parents, wives, and sweethearts who wrote to and worried about these men, Borneman draws from a treasure trove of unpublished source material to bring to vivid life the minor decisions that became a matter of life or death when the bombs began to fall. More than just an account of familial bonds and national heartbreak, what emerges promises to define a turning point in American military history.

• By: Stephen E. Ambrose
• Narrator: Jesse Boggs
• Length: 25 hours 16 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2012
• 4.29 (25077 ratings)

Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history. D-Day is the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished historian Stephen E. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination–what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy”–that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged. Drawing on more than 1,400 interviews with American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion had to be abandoned, and how enlisted men and junior officers acted on their own initiative when they realized that nothing was as they were told it would be. The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France. It ends at midnight June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, it moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a German sergeant. Ambrose’s D-Day is the finest account of one of our history’s most important days.

• Narrator: Stephen E. Ambrose
• Length: 5 hours 58 minutes

Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history. D-Day is the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished historian Stephen E. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination—what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy”—that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged. Drawing on more than 1,400 interviews with American, British, Canadian, French, and German veterans, Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion had to be abandoned, and how enlisted men and junior officers acted on their own initiative when they realized that nothing was as they were told it would be. The action begins at midnight, June 5/6, when the first British and American airborne troops jumped into France. It ends at midnight June 6/7. Focusing on those pivotal twenty-four hours, it moves from the level of Supreme Commander to that of a French child, from General Omar Bradley to an American paratrooper, from Field Marshal Montgomery to a German sergeant. Ambrose’s D-Day is the finest account of one of our history’s most important days.

• By: Ryan S. Walters
• Narrator: Kevin Kenerly
• Length: 9 hours 17 minutes
• Publish date: January 01, 2021
• 4.29 (134 ratings)

On January 27, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee climbed into a new spacecraft perched atop a large Saturn rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a routine dress rehearsal of their upcoming launch into orbit, then less than a month away. All three astronauts were experienced pilots and had dreams of one day walking on the moon, but little did they know, nor did anyone else, that once they entered the spacecraft that cold winter day they would never leave it alive. The Apollo program would be perilously close to failure before it ever got off the ground.

But rather than dooming the space program, this tragedy caused the spacecraft to be completely overhauled, creating a stellar flying machine to achieve the program’s primary goal: putting man on the moon.

Apollo 1 is a candid portrayal of the astronauts, the disaster that killed them, and its aftermath. In it, listeners will learn

how the Apollo 1 spacecraft was doomed from the start, with miles of uninsulated wiring and tons of flammable materials in a pure oxygen atmosphere, along with a hatch that wouldn’t open;how, due to political pressure, the government contract to build the Apollo 1 craft went to a bidder with an inferior plan; andhow public opinion polls were beginning to turn against the space program before the tragedy and got much worse after.

Apollo 1 is about America fulfilling its destiny of man setting foot on the moon. It’s also about the three American heroes who lost their lives in the tragedy, but whose lives were not lost in vain.

• By: Max Hastings
• Narrator: Max Hastings
• Length: 33 hours 33 minutes
• Publish date: October 16, 2018
• 4.28 (3356 ratings)

An absorbing and definitive modern history of the Vietnam War from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Secret War.

Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and also much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh’s warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.

Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners’ victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas.

No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings’ readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

The Gotti Wars

• By: John Gleeson
• Narrator: Adam Grupper
• Length: 13 hours 38 minutes
• 4.28 (317 ratings)

“Riveting…an electrifying true crime story of the Mafia-smitten eighties and nineties. Suspenseful and multifaceted, The Gotti Wars can’t be missed.” — Esquire , The Best Nonfiction Books of the Year A “meticulous chronicle of good triumphing over evil” ( The Washington Post ) from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America’s most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John Gotti–and ultimately took down the Mafia altogether. John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion–with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement’s radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname “The Dapper Don;” his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.” This is the captivating story of Gotti’s meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti’s legal adversary–John Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn–was watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal racketeering prosecutions, Gleeson prosecuted both. As the junior lawyer in the first case–a bitter seven-month battle that ended in Gotti’s acquittal–Gleeson found himself in Gotti’s crosshairs, falsely accused of serious crimes by a defense witness Gotti intimidated into committing perjury. Five years later, Gleeson was in charge of the second racketeering investigation and trial. Armed with the FBI’s secret recordings of Gotti’s conversations with his underboss and consigliere in the apartment above Gotti’s Little Italy hangout, Gleeson indicted all three. He “flipped” underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of nineteen men, who became history’s highest-ranking mob turncoat–resulting in Gotti’s murder conviction. Gleeson ended not just Gotti’s reign, but eventually that of the entire mob. A spellbinding, page-turning courtroom drama, The Gotti Wars “tells us in electrifying detail how the good guys finally won, how justice triumphed over evil, and how Gleeson himself was transformed by his long war” (Nelson DeMille).

Betrayal in Berlin

• By: Steve Vogel
• Narrator: Joel Richards
• Length: 17 hours 46 minutes
• Publish date: September 24, 2019
• 4.28 (253 ratings)

The astonishing true story of the Berlin Tunnel, one of the West’s greatest espionage operations of the Cold War–and the dangerous Soviet mole who betrayed it.

Its code name was “Operation Gold,” a wildly audacious CIA plan to construct a clandestine tunnel into East Berlin to tap into critical KGB and Soviet military telecommunication lines. The tunnel, crossing the border between the American and Soviet sectors, would have to be 1,500 feet (the length of the Empire State Building) with state-of-the-art equipment, built and operated literally under the feet of their Cold War adversaries. Success would provide the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service access to a vast treasure of intelligence. Exposure might spark a dangerous confrontation with the Soviets. Yet as the Allies were burrowing into the German soil, a traitor, code-named Agent Diamond by his Soviet handlers, was burrowing into the operation itself. . .

Betrayal in Berlin is Steve Vogel’s heart pounding account of the operation. He vividly recreates post-war Berlin, a scarred, shadowy snake pit with thousands of spies and innumerable cover stories. It is also the most vivid account of George Blake, perhaps the most damaging mole of the Cold War. Drawing upon years of archival research, secret documents, and rare interviews with Blake himself, Vogel has crafted a true-life spy story as thrilling as the novels of John le Carre and Len Deighton.

The Blood of Emmett Till

• By: Timothy B. Tyson
• Narrator: Rhett Samuel Price
• Length: 8 hours 35 minutes
• Publish date: February 07, 2017
• 4.27 (6427 ratings)

Mississippi, 1955: fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was murdered by a white mob after making flirtatious remarks to a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Till’s attackers were never convicted, but his lynching became one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history. It launched protests across the country, helped the NAACP gain thousands of members, and inspired famous activists like Rosa Parks to stand up and fight for equal rights for the first time. Part detective story, part political history, Tyson revises the history of the Till case, using a wide range of new sources, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant. In a time where discussions of race are once again coming to the fore, Tyson redefines this crucial moment in civil rights history.

• By: Dan Pedersen
• Narrator: Jim Meskimen
• Length: 9 hours 48 minutes
• Publish date: March 05, 2019
• 4.26 (475 ratings)

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “If you loved the movie, you will love the real story in the book.” — Fox & Friends On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the “Topgun” Navy Fighter School, its founder shares the remarkable inside story of how he and eight other risk-takers revolutionized the art of aerial combat. When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again.

What resulted was nothing short of a revolution — one that took young American pilots from the crucible of combat training in the California desert to the blistering skies of Vietnam, in the process raising America’s Navy combat kill ratio from two enemy planes downed for every American plane lost to more than 22 to 1. Topgun emerged not only as an icon of America’s military dominance immortalized by Hollywood but as a vital institution that would shape the nation’s military strategy for generations to come.

Pedersen takes readers on a colorful and thrilling ride — from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace-through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his “Original Eight” — the best of the best — and carried on for six decades by some of America’s greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimony to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.

Thinking the Twentieth Century

• Narrator: Geoffrey Howard
• Length: 15 hours 3 minutes
• 4.26 (1315 ratings)

An unprecedented and original history of intellectual life throughout the past century

Thinking the Twentieth Century is the final book of unparalleled historian and indomitable public critic Tony Judt. Where Judt’s masterpiece Postwar redefined the history of modern Europe by uniting the stories of its eastern and western halves, Thinking the Twentieth Century unites the century’s conflicted intellectual history into a single soaring narrative. The twentieth century comes to life as the age of ideas—a time when, for good or for ill, the thoughts of the few reigned over the lives of the many. Judt presents the triumphs and the failures of public intellectuals, adeptly extracting the essence of their ideas and explaining the risks of their involvement in politics. Spanning the entire era and all currents of thought in a manner never previously attempted, Thinking the Twentieth Century is a triumphant tour de force that restores clarity to the classics of modern thought with the assurance and grace of a master craftsman. The exceptional nature of this work is evident in its very structure—a series of luminous conversations between Judt and his friend and fellow historian Timothy Snyder, grounded in the texts of their trade and focused by the intensity of their vision. Judt’s astounding eloquence and range of reference are here on display as never before. Traversing the century’s complexities with ease, he and Snyder revive both thoughts and thinkers, guiding us through the debates that made our world. As forgotten treasures are unearthed and overrated thinkers are dismantled, the shape of a century emerges. Judt and Snyder make us partners in their project as we learn the ways to think like a historian or even like a public intellectual. We begin to experience the power of historical perspective for the critique and reform of society and for the pursuit of the good and the true from day to day.

In restoring, and indeed exemplifying, the best of the intellectual life of the twentieth century, Thinking the Twentieth Century charts a pathway for moral life in the twenty-first. An incredible achievement, this book is about the life of the mind—and about the mindful life.

• Previous 29 Best 20th Century, Biography & Autobiography Books
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Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.

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