Cambridge Companion To Modern German Culture, The

Description:
One of the most intriguing questions of our time is how some of the masterpieces of modernity originated in a country in which personal liberty and democracy were slow to emerge. This Companion provides an authoritative account of modern German culture since the onset of industrialisation, the rise of mass society and the nation state. Newly written and researched by experts in their respective fields, individual chapters trace developments in German culture - including national identity, class, Jews in German society, minorities and women, the functions of folk and mass culture, poetry, drama, theatre, dance, music, art, architecture, cinema and mass media - from the nineteenth century to the present. Guidance is given for further reading and a chronology is provided. In its totality the Companion shows how the political and social processes that shaped modern Germany are intertwined with cultural genres and their agendas of creative expression.

Review:
'This book is informative, topically comprehensive, well researched, and clearly written. It may serve as a useful reference work to the modern German culture scene, or it may be adopted as a text book for a course in German Culture and Civilization... Charlotte M. Craig, Germanic Notes and Reviews

Table of Contents:
List of illustrations; List of contributors; List of abbreviations; Chronology; In search of German culture: an introduction Eva Kolinsky and Wilfried van der Will; 1. The citizen and the state in modern Germany Peter Pulzer; 2. German national identity John Breuilly; 3. Elites and class structure Hans-Georg Betz; 4. Jews in German society Andrei S. Markovits, Beth Simone Noveck and Carolyn Hofig; 5. Non-German minorities, women and the emergence of civil society Eva Kolinsky; 6. Critiques of culture Andrew Bowie; 7. The functions of 'Volkskultur', mass culture and alternative culture Wilfried van der Will; 8. The development of German prose fiction Martin Swales; 9. Modern German poetry Karen Leeder; 10. German drama, theatre and dance Michael Patterson and Michael Huxley; 11. Music in modern German culture Erik Levi; 12. Modern German art Irit Rogoff; 13. Modern German architecture Iain Boyd Whyte; 14. German cinema Martin Brady and Helen Hughes; 15. The media of mass communication: the press, radio and television Holger Briel; Index.