This study provides a comprehensive examination of the East–West occupation of Austria from the end of World War II to the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955. Examining US, Soviet, Bri
A biography of Francis I, the last Holy Roman Emperor and first Emperor of Austria, as well as a history of his times. The first biography in English of this mysterious, complex, and powerful personal
The Avars arrived in Europe from the Central Asian steppes in the mid-sixth century CE and dominated much of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years. Fierce warriors and canny power brokers, t
In the bloody twentieth-century battles over Central Europe's borderlands, Upper Silesians stand out for resisting pressure to become loyal Germans or Poles. This work traces nationalist activists' efforts to divide Upper Silesian communities, which were bound by their Catholic faith and bilingualism, into two 'imagined' nations. These efforts, which ranged from the 1848 Revolution to the aftermath of the Second World War, are charted by Brendan Karch through the local newspapers, youth and leisure groups, neighborhood parades, priestly sermons, and electoral outcomes. As locals weathered increasing political turmoil and violence in the German-Polish contest over their homeland, many crafted a national ambiguity that allowed them to pass as members of either nation. In prioritizing family, homeland, village, class, or other social ties above national belonging, a majority of Upper Silesians adopted an instrumental stance towards nationalism. The result was a feedback loop between natio
Since the defeat of the Nazi Third Reich and the end of its horrific eugenics policies, battles over the politics of life, sex, and death have continued and evolved. Dagmar Herzog documents how reprod
While there are many books that deal with Brandt's foreign policy as West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt and International Relations is the only book to deal with Brandt's politics as elder statesman
The moral and political role of German journalists before, during, and after the Nazi dictatorshipJournalists between Hitler and Adenauer takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weim
In The First March of Gentlemen, Rafal Milach creates a fictitious narrative composed of authentic stories. He retells the historical children’s strike in Wrzeenia in Poland from the early 20th Centur
This book discusses the ongoing revolution of dignity in human history as the work of ‘humanist outliers’: small groups and individuals dedicated to compassionate social emancipation. It argues that a
“A brilliant paper chase—an excellent book.”—Library JournalJFK, Khrushchev, Reagan, and a city divided.Berlin has played a major role in world politics since the Nazi era and continues to be in the s
The collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy at the end of World War I ushered in a period of radical change for East-Central European political structures and national identities. Yet this transformed lands
“Riveting…An elegantly composed study, important and even timely” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) history of the Third Reich—how Adolf Hitler and a core group of Nazis rose f
Dagmar Nick, a multiple literary prize-winner in her native Germany, has turned her considerable talents to researching her fascinating Jewish ancestry. She brings to life her family history through t
Jedrzej Kitowicz was a parish priest in central Poland with a military and worldly past. In his later years, after putting the affairs of his parish in order, he composed a colorful chronicle of all a
The decades following the end of World War II witnessed the establishment of a large and diverse German-American scholarly community studying modern German history. As West Germany's formerly deeply n
A new interpretation of the Holy Roman Empire that reveals why it was not a failed state as many historians believeThe Holy Roman Empire emerged in the Middle Ages as a loosely integrated union of Ger
A startling reassessment of Hitler’s aims and motivations, Frederic Spotts’s Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics is a deftly argued and highly original work that provides a key to fuller understanding
