Search For Normality, The: National Identity And Historical Co

Description:
The Historikerstreit of the 1980s has ended inconclusively amidst heated debates on the nature and course of German national history. The author follows the debates beyond the unexpected reunification of the country in 1990 and analyzes the most recent trends in German historiography. Reunification, he observes, has brought in its wake an urgent search for the 'normality' of the nation state. For anyone interested in the development of the national master narrative in more recent German historiography, this book will provide an essential guide through the multitude of historical debates surrounding the nation state.

Review:
'This book presents an essential segment of contemporary history that so far has not been explored systematically ... [It is] based on a wide variety of sources and highly informative ... The exhaustive treatment results in a far more differentiated picture than has predominated so far.' IWK '[The author] has succeeded in presenting a differentiated, rigorously argued and convincing study of the debates that have taken place in the academic and media worlds.' Archiv fur Sozialgeschichte '[The author's] lucid, well structured presentation offers non-German readers in particular a scholarly overview that still preserves the nuances of the subject.' German Studies Review 'Curious observers of Germany's never-ending quarrel with its past will find to ponder in Berger's assessments.' Journal of Interdisciplinary History