*German Studies*

In one concise volume, Hagen Schulze brilliantly conveys the full sweep of German history, from the days of the Romans to the fall of the Berlin Wall. From the revolt of the indigenous tribes against Roman domination, Schulze leads us through the events that have defined a nation at the center of European culture--the Thirty Years' War and the decline of the Holy Roman Empire, Luther's Reformation and Bismarck's attendance at the birth of modern Germany, the Great War and its aftermath, the nationalistic megalomania under Hitler, the division of the nation after World War II and its reunification. Throughout, we see what these developments have meant for the German people, in the arena of private life and on the stage of world history. A lavish array of illustrations provides a lively counterpoint to Schulze's elegantly written narrative.

This new edition of a best-selling history of Germany, originally published in 1976, includes the great watershed of 1989–90 and its aftermath. With twelve maps, a chronology of events, and an updated bibliographical essay, Germany: A Short History provides a thorough introduction to German history from antiquity to the present.

This history of German-speaking central Europe offers a very wide perspective, emphasizing a succession of many-layered communal identities. It highlights the interplay of individual, society, culture, and political power, contrasting German with western patterns. Rather than treating 'the Germans' as a collective whole whose national history amounts to a cumulative biography, the book presents the pre-modern era of the Holy Roman Empire; the nineteenth century; the 1914–1945 era of war, dictatorship, and genocide; and the Cold War and post–Cold War eras since 1945 as successive worlds of German life, thought, and mentality. This book's 'Germany' is polycentric and multicultural, including the multi-national Austrian Habsburg Empire and the German Jews. Its approach to National Socialism offers a conceptually new understanding of the Holocaust. The book's numerous illustrations reveal German self-presentations and styles of life, which often contrast with western ideas of Germany.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Germany presents a richly illustrated, integrated, chronological account of German history from Charlemagne to the modern era. Martin Kitchen focuses particularly on the German people - their culture and society. In this way he illuminates and puts into perspective the country's political history, from its origins as a collection of small, German-speaking states to its present-day status as a major European and world power. In special illustrated boxes and panels throughout the book, he reveals the great cultural and intellectual contribution Germans have made to the world through the works of figures such as Martin Luther, Bach, Kant, Wagner, and Gropius.