Product Description: The Weimar Moment’s evocative assault on closure and political reaction, its offering of democracy against the politics of narrow self-interest cloaked in nationalist appeals to Volk and “community”—or, as would be the case in Nazi Germany, “race”—cannot but appeal to us today...read more

In the wake of the American and French revolutions, European culture saw the evolution of a new 'leisure regime' never previously enjoyed. Now we speak of modern leisure societies, but the history of leisure, its experiences and expectations, its scope and variability, still remains largely a matter of conjecture. One message that has emerged from a multiplicity of disciplines is that research on leisure and consumption opens up a hitherto untapped mine of information on the broader issues of politics, society, culture and economics.How have leisure regimes in Europe evolved since the eighteenth century? Why has leisure culture crystallized around particular practices, sites and objects? Above all, what sorts of connections and meanings have been inscribed in leisure practices, and how might these be compared across time and space? This book is the first to provide an historical overview of modern leisure in a wide range of manifestations: travel, entertainment, sports, fashion, 'taste' and much more. It will be essential reading for anyone wishing to know more about European history and culture or simply how people spent their free time before the age of television and the internet. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Travel guidebooks are an important part of contemporary culture, but we know relatively little about their history and importance to the evolution of tourism. Germany not only produced the first international standard for travel handbooks, the Baedeker, but also became a major tourist destination early in the twentieth century...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Over the course of the twentieth century, Germans have venerated and maintained a variety of historical buildings--from medieval fortresses and cathedrals to urban districts and nineteenth-century working-class housing. But the practice of historic preservation has sometimes proven controversial, as different groups of Germans have sought to use historical architecture to represent competing versions of their nation's history...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

In contrast with traditional approaches, which have seen a more or less uniform middleclass response to the political and economic crises of the age of fascism, this comparative study of the politics and ideology of the urban lower middle classes in Europe from 1918 to 1939 rethinks the political history of these groups, stressing the diversity and splintering of middleclass constituencies under the pressures of the interwar period. Examining these years from the perspective of a broad range of European countries, including England, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania, the writers focus on non-rural lower-middle class groups not only as objects of elite and state manipulation -- the traditional view -- but as active, often violent agents of political conflict. What political positions were available to these groups in Europe after World War I, which did they choose and why? What were the central themes and symbols of the leaders and politicians who supposedly represented them? By exploring how the lower middle classes defined (or failed to define) themselves politically -- the alliances that they formed, the sentiments they articulated, and the interests they pursued and defended -- this informative and provocative book sheds light on a crucial segment of European society between the two world wars.

Product Description: Focusing on Marburg, a contentious university town where voters demonstrated strong electoral support for Adolf Hitler's National Socialist party, this imaginative study discusses the political role of small-town organizational life and painstakingly reconstructs the full range of Nazi sympathizers' cross-affiliations with local voluntary groups...read more