Fatherlands: State-Building and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany

by Abigail Green

Overview

Fatherlands explores the nature of identity in nineteenth-century Germany, and has crucial implications for our understanding of nationalism, German unification and the German state in the modern era. It approaches these questions from a new and important angle, that of the non national territorial state, exploring the state-building process in non-Prussian Germany. The issues covered range from railway construction and German industrialization, to the modernization of German monarchy, the emergence of a free press, the development of a modern educational system, and the role of monuments, museums and public festivities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521616232
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/02/2004
Series:	New Studies in European History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Variations of German experience: Hanover, Saxony and Württemberg; 2. Modernising monarchy; 3. Cultures of the fatherland; 4. Propaganda; 5. Educating patriots; 6. Communications; 7. Imagined identities; 8. Nationhood; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"...[an] authoritative, meticulously researched, and well argued monograph...indispensible." The Journal of Social History

"Abigail Green's thoughtful, well-researched examination of nineteenth-century state formation offers an excellent comparative methodology, which might be applied beneficially to the contemporary discussions." The Historian

"...[a] thoughtfully conceived and crisply argued monograph...a highly original arguement that drives a stimulating, well-written, and always informative book. Journal of Modern History

"Green's book provides much-needed and long-overdue answers..." The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Green manages to shed light on a very important aspect of German state and nation building in the nineteenth century, and she does so with considerable panache and style. Her book is a superb exercise in comparative history, for she manages to sustain complex comparisons of three kingdoms and their attempts to forge particularist identities over the whole of the nineteenth century. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in Germany and German identity." American Historical Review

"...an important contribution..." Central European History

"Highly original." H-NET

"...well written..." History

From the Publisher