Cambridge University Press, 2004. — 365 pages. — (Cambridge Companions to Culture). — ISBN 0 521 56032 2; ISBN 0 521 56870 6.
A definitive guide to German culture from its emergence as a nation state in 1871 to the present day. Fundamental yet complex questions such as where/what is Germany and who were/are Germans are addressed in a sensitive fashion. Historical, political, legal and social institutions are explained, as are sexual, racial and class structures and divisions. Art, architecture, film, dance, music, mass media and literature are all explored. Key concepts and definitions are explained and all quotes are translated.
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 researched and written 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 there is a chronology. In its totality the Companion shows how the political and social processes that shaped modem Germany are intertwined with cultural genres and their agendas of creative expression.
