![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > History > World history > From 1900 > General
A comprehensive analysis of political violence in Weimar Germany with particular emphasis on the political culture from which it emerged. "Today's readers, living in what Charles Maier calls 'a new epoch of vanished reassurance', will find this book absorbing and troubling."-The Historian The Prussian province of Saxony-where the Communist uprising of March 1921 took place and two Combat Leagues (Wehrverbande) were founded (the right-wing Stahlhelm and the Social Democratic Reichsbanner)-is widely recognized as a politically important region in this period of German history. Using a case study of this socially diverse province, this book refutes both the claim that the Bolshevik revolution was the prime cause of violence and the argument that the First World War's all-encompassing "brutalization" doomed post-1918 German political life from the very beginning. The study thus contributes to a view of the Weimar Republic as a state in severe crisis but with alternatives to the Nazi takeover. From the introduction: After the phase of civil war, political violence assumed a distinctly limited form. It was no longer aimed at killing or wounding as many opponents as possible; instead, it served political parties and organizations as an instrument for exerting pressure in the struggle over control of the street. This development was driven by the Combat Leagues (Wehrverbande) of all political camps, who, with their uniforms and marches, injected militaristic elements into the political culture. However, since the violence they perpetrated followed a political and not a military logic, it was, as I will show, in principle controllable and did not pose a fundamental threat to the political order, not even in 1932, that particularly turbulent year before Hitler's assumption of power.
Our understanding of culture and of the catastrophe unleashed by National Socialism have always been regarded as interrelated. For all its brutality, Nazism always spoke in the name of the great German tradition, often using such "high culture" to justify atrocities committed. Were not such actions necessary for the defense of classical cultural values and ideal images against the polluted, degenerate groups who sought to sully and defile them? Ironically, some of National Socialism's victims confronted and interpreted their experiences precisely through this prism of culture and catastrophe. Many of these victims had traditionally regarded Germany as a major civilizing force. In fact, from the late eighteenth century on, German Jews had constructed themselves in German culture's image. Many of the German-speaking Jewish intellectuals who became victims of National Socialism had been raised and completely absorbed in the German humanistic tradition. One of the most stark existential dilemmas they were forced to confront was the stripping away of this spiritual inheritance, the experience of expropriation from their own culture. Steven Aschheim here engages the multiple aspects of German and German-Jewish cultural history which touch upon the intricate interplay between culture and catastrophe, providing insights into the relationship between German culture and the origins, dispositions, and aftermath of National Socialism. He analyzes the designation of Nazism as part of the West's cultural code representing an absolute standard of evil, and sheds light on the problematics of current German, Jewish, and Israeli inscriptions of Nazism and its atrocities, capturing the ongoing centralrelevance of that experience to contemporary culture and collective individual self-definitions.
Following World War 1 a unique experiment in state-building took place between two closely kindred nations in Eastern Europe; an attempt to build up a composite ethnic - Czechoslovak-nation and provide it with an adequate political framework. This book gives the reader a succinct account of this experiment by means of ethnopolitical, economic and sociological analyses.;The book is divided into three parts. The first, written by Jaroslav Krejci, on ethnopolitics explains the rationale of the experiment and reviews its obstacles, successes and failures, due to both internal and external causes. The second part, by the same author, contains an outline of the economic context of ethnic as well as social aspects of the development. As far as possible, the economic structure and performance of the Czech and Slovak parts of the state are given separate attention. The third part, by Pavel Machonin, is entitled Social Metamorphoses' and covers structural changes in the Czech and Slovak societies. Changes in class structures, stratification, mobility and living standards constitute the main items for consideration. Wherever there is relevant material available, popular opinion on particular
Filled with historical detail and personal insight, this memoir re-creates the world of textile workers in Bladenboro, North Carolina, during two decades of depression and war. Baseball, religion, work, death, and the company store -- these figured eminently in the lives of Southern cotton mill workers and their families during the early decades of the twentieth century. In this firsthand account of his native Bladenboro, George G. Suggs, Jr., captures in rich detail the world of a thriving cotton mill town where the company was dominant but the workers had forged a strong community. Here the focus is on the workers -- their interests, personalities, and values -- in their best and in their darker moments. Ultimately we see the many dimensions of working-class culture and taste a way of life that has vanished. Drawing upon childhood memories and his father's recollections, Suggs covers events in Bladenboro during the 1930s and '40s. He describes the nature of cotton mill work, the stresses and strains produced by undesirable working conditions, and the various ways in which workers and their families learned to cope. Many characters emerge from this story -- from the kind woman who dispensed the company fiat money to the desperate men who would gamble it away. The book explores key topics such as social rankings, medical care, the company store, and workers' responses to death. Above all, we see how faith found expression on the job and in the surrounding evangelical churches. The workers of Bladenboro are gone, and little remains of the mills, but this work pays tribute to lives well lived under the most challenging circumstances.
Between 1885 and 1921 the question of Irish Home Rule became increasingly focused on the province of Ulster, and especially on Ulster Unionist responses to a Dublin parliament. This book explores the making of a specifically Ulster dimension to this crisis and its impact on Ulster politics. D. George Boyce and Alan O'Day also trace its outcome in the partition of Ireland and the establishment of a Home Rule parliament in Northern Ireland - an outcome which still has resonances today.
Over the decades, the Holocaust has remained a critical issue both historically and politically. This is due to the modernisation of anti-Semitism in the West, where accusations of ritual murder have long been passe and claims that the Holocaust was a hoax are de riguer, and to the government sanctions of anti-Semitism in the East in countries such as Iran. The purely scholarly problem of determining the number of victims, like other aspects of demography related to the Holocaust, have suddenly become closely embroiled in geopolitics and the phenomenon of Holocaust denial, which is now a context that has been forced upon it. This book is imbued with these connections and interrelationships. Avraham, Wolfgang Benz, Sergio Della Pergola, Mark Kupovetsky, Dieter Pohl, Aron Shneer, and the editors contribute their voices to the topic.
This book narrates and analyzes the southern tours by Booker T. Washington and his associates in 1908-1912. The author provides analysis of the importance of these tours in early 20th-century race relations, and relates them to Washington's racial philosophy and its impact on the various parts of black society. Instead of focusing on how Washington struggled against W.E.B. DuBois in a quest for leadership, this study emphasizes how he fought to undermine white supremacy.
In revisiting the Popular Front some 60 years on, this work explores the link between metropolitan France and the empire at a defining moment in their history. The contributors aim to widen our understanding of the Popular Front experience and show that it represents an important watershed in French history, marking the beginning of an irreversible process of reform that was ultimately to lead to decolonization and the end of empire.
"This narrative of the rise and repeated adaptation of the German environmental movement to a variety of social and political contexts is a fascinating one...Ultimately, Markham's sociological analysis of German nature protection organizations proves readable and engaging. He makes significant efforts to write a broadly accessible work. Discussions of sociological theory are limited to a methodological chapter and part of the conclusion; otherwise, his prose is clear and highly organized. This book therefore would make an excellent introduction to the history of German environmentalism." . H-German ..".a welcome addition to the topic of German environmentalism ... that]is well organized... and] succeeds, in part, because of its theoretical perspective... It] also succeeds because of meticulous research." . Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire ..".a profound, comprehensive study... which is singular in its kind and is sure to become a standard reference (Standardwerk) on this subject. In many research stays in Germany, Markham acquired a profound knowledge of the history and the present characteristics of German environmental organizations, of their changing role in politics, and the strategic dilemmas they face." . Nature + Culture "The main contribution of this book lies in its thorough and informative account of the historical development of German environmentalism...an impressive work that will be of interest to researchers well beyond the boundaries of environmental sociology and politics, or European (German) studies." . American Journal of Sociology ..".a well-researched and highly accessible historical-sociological investigation of German environmental organizations in the twentieth century as well as a critical assessment of the strategic dilemmas and decisions that these groups faced as they entered the twenty-first...an excellent contribution to a growing historical literatue dedicated to the 'greening' of German history." . The American Historical Review "William T. Markham... has written a very useful historical and sociological overview of several major twentieth century German environmental organizations...augmented by a broad historical overview of twentieth century German environmentalism and a lucid, historian friendly discussion of the major theories that sociologists and political scientists have used in analyzing social movements...a fine book that should be essential reading for anyone interested in environmental organizations and how to go about studying them." . History: Books in Review German environmental organizations have doggedly pursued environmental protection through difficult times: hyperinflation and war, National Socialist rule, postwar devastation, state socialism in the GDR, and confrontation with the authorities during the 1970s and 1980s. The author recounts the fascinating and sometimes dramatic story of these organizations from their origins at the end of the nineteenth century to the present, not only describing how they reacted to powerful social movements, including the homeland protection and socialist movements in the early years of the twentieth century, the Nazi movement, and the anti-nuclear and new social movements of the 1970s and 1980s, but also examining strategies for survival in periods like the current one, when environmental concerns are not at the top of the national agenda. Previous analyses of environmental organizations have almost invariably viewed them as parts of larger social structures, that is, as components of social movements, as interest groups within a political system, or as contributors to civil society. This book, by contrast, starts from the premise that through the use of theories developed specifically to analyze the behavior of organizations and NGOs we can gain additional insight into why environmental organizations behave as they do."
The German Empire, its structure, its dynamic development between 1871 and 1918, and its legacy, have been the focus of lively international debate that is showing signs of further intensification as we approach the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. Based on recent work and scholarly arguments about continuities and discontinuities in modern German history from Bismarck to Hitler, well-known experts broadly explore four themes: the positioning of the Bismarckian Empire in the course of German history; the relationships between society, politics and culture in a period of momentous transformations; the escalation of military violence in Germany's colonies before 1914 and later in two world wars; and finally the situation of Germany within the international system as a major political and economic player. The perspectives presented in this volume have already stimulated further argument and will be of interest to anyone looking for orientation in this field of research.
Explore the Lives and Relationship of Two Great Leaders: Churchill and Roosevelt! Two captivating manuscripts in one book: - Winston Churchill: A Captivating Guide to the Life of Winston S. Churchill - Franklin Roosevelt: A Captivating Guide to the Life of FDR Any general biography of Churchill and Roosevelt will provide an overview of their greatest achievements, but Winston and Franklin had other goals and desires that are often ignored and forgotten. What were they? They both had a family-a childhood and children of their own-and a phenomenal political career. This book will examine their relationship as well as their individual lives.
An anarchist by temperament, the beautiful and talented Ding Ling attempted to find her way in the world alone. She had a few female friends and a few significant male others, but she rebelled against her family. Most importantly, she rebelled against the Chinese Communist Party to which she desperately hoped to belong. The first part of a comprehensive biography of the major 20th century Chinese author, Ding Ling, this work draws not only on her memoirs, but on numerous secondary sources, many of which have become available only in the last two decades. Though born into a wealthy family, Jiang Bingzi was raised by her mother after the untimely death of her father. She went to school in the May 4 era, when protest was in the air, the radical ideas of Mao were already in print, and her idol, Lu Xun, was making his literary mark. In her late teens she renounced her engagement, changed her name, and fled to Shanghai where she embraced the anarchist movement. The loss of her brother and lifelong friend, Wang Jianhong, and the loss of her significant other, Hu Yepin, all threw her into various states of depression, not to mention her own abduction by the Guomindang. Nevertheless, Ding Ling wrote her way out of despair and into the public limelight. Her first collection of short stories, "In the Darkness, " made her famous because of its profound grasp of feminine psychology and its daring treatment of human sexuality. But when Ding Ling attempted to dispel the darkness in Yan'an, she, like everyone else, was told by Mao in his famous "Talks" to focus on the light. Ding Ling made all the necessary adjustments, literary and political. She survived the rectification campaign and mastered proletarian fiction. Mao loved her novel "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan" so much that he ranked her third among contemporaries. Soon, she was traveling to Eastern Europe and to Moscow where she consulted with Soviet notables. With the founding of the People's Republic, it appeared her star was on the rise. This study of Ding Ling and China's literary environment in the first half of the 20th century will be useful to scholars and students of contemporary Chinese history, literature, and women's studies.
This is an interpretation of the life, personality and political career of David Lloyd George which attempts to challenge the traditional view of Lloyd George as an outsider in British politics. The book explains the economic, social and political developments of Lloyd George's career and his role in effecting those changes.
In this volume, Alan Levine traces the development of the Soviet Union and the Communist movement from 1917 to the Nazi invasion of the USSR in June 1941. Arguing that the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies can only be fully understood by examining the doctrine and practices of the Soviet Union and the world Communist movement from their inception, Levine offers a detailed account of the development of the state parties in Russia and China, the Communist seizure of power, the Soviet Union's role in international relations between the two world wars, and the development of the techniques of conflict management used by the Communist powers later in the era of the Cold War. By treating together a number of topics and elements that are closely related but usually treated separately, Levine offers important new insights into the origins of the Cold War, showing that the devices used successfully by the Soviet state during these years--building satellite states, the use of proxy forces to influence the outcomes of revolutions, the use of Soviet military aid, and the inconspicuous employment of Soviet advisors--were already seen in the 1920s and 1930s. Levine stresses throughout the continuity exhibited by Soviet policies between the world wars and those used during the Cold War after World War II. He examines in depth such topics as Soviet foreign policy and territorial expansion, the development of Communist movements and doctrines, the successes and failure of the Communists' enemies, the history of the Russian and Chinese revolutions, and the history of Communist attempts to seize power. Based on his analysis, Levine concludes that rather than beginning in 1945, following the end of World War II, the Cold War actually had its origins in the development of a totalitarian Communist regime in the former Russian Empire under the shattering impact of World War I. Levine argues further that there has also been a strong element of continuity in the characteristic features of Western responses to the Soviets. Students of twentieth-century international politics will find Levine's work illuminating reading.
In entries such as Jane Addams and the Settlement House Movement, Booker T. Washington and Black Self-Help, and Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women, this dictionary provides in-depth examination of major American reformers and the movements they defined. With coverage extending from the early republic to today, the book considers abolitionism, women's rights, temperance, the social gospel, birth control, pacifism, civil rights, environmentalism, consumerism, and other controversial movements. Each entry combines biography with historical analysis to show the historical context and character of the movement and person. Individually, the entries provide modern, interpretive treatments of their subjects. Collectively, they reveal the direction and dynamics of American reform over two centuries. Emphasizing social reform over civic reform, the book gives special attention to reformers and reforms that have significantly altered the social order. Written by prominent scholars, the entries show the importance of personality and historical context in reform movements and the relationship between particular reforms and the temperament of an age. With full-bodied biographies of the reformers and their movements, a time-line on American reform, up-to-date interpretations and bibliographies, and a wide range of subjects, this book provides the most comprehensive and cogent view of American reform and reformers anywhere. It also provides the fullest treatment to date of post-World War II reform activity and personalities.
..".brings together an array of scholars' perspectives and approaches on how to rework and reframe traditional histories in order to foster and serve as the foundation for future political and economic integration in Europe...overall this volume critically examines the historiography of integration and the foundations of the constantly evolving European community. It successfully provides its readers with a refreshing framework in which European history can be studied and is highly recommended for graduate students and scholars of contemporary European history." . H-German Despite the growing interest in general European history, the European dimension is surprisingly absent from the writing of contemporary history. In most countries, the historiography on the 20th century continues to be dominated by national perspectives. Although there is cross-national work on specific topics such as occupation or resistance, transnational conceptions and narratives of contemporary European history have yet to be worked out. This volume focuses on the development of a shared conception of recent European history that will be required as an underpinning for further economic and political integration so as to make lasting cooperation on the old continent possible. It tries to overcome the traditional national framing that ironically persists just at a time when organized efforts to transform Europe from an object of debate to an actual subject have some chance of succeeding in making it into a polity in its own right."
This text is intended to fill a gap in the literature on coercion and assesses the usefulness of coercive diplomacy in the post-Cold war era. The theoretical framework explains why coercive diplomacy politics succeed or fail, identifies the conditions under which Western states will be willing to back coercive strategies with use of limited force, and highlights how the need for collective action affects the use of coercion. The framework is tested empirically in analyses of the Gulf crisis, the Yugoslav wars and the Haiti crisis.
Some of the most compelling and enduring creative work of the late Victorian and Edwardian Era came from committed imperialists and conservatives. Their continuing popularity owes a great deal to the way their guiding ideas resonated with modernism in the arts and psychology. The analogy they perceived between the imperial business of subjugating savage subjects and the civilised ego's struggle to subdue the unruly savage within generated some of their best artistic endeavours. In a series of thematically linked chapters Imperium of the soul explores the work of writers Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, Rider Haggard and John Buchan along with the composer Edward Elgar and the architect Herbert Baker. It culminates with an analysis of their mutual infatuation with T. E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - who represented all their dreams for the future British Empire but whose ultimate paralysis of creative imagination exposed the fatal flaw in their psycho-political project. This transdisciplinary study will interest not only scholars of imperialism and the history of ideas but general readers fascinated by bygone ideas of exotic adventure and colonial rule. -- .
A] welcome complement to historians' accounts of Jewish reactions to Nazi persecution before 1939. It richly maps the spatial, emotional and psychological effects of social abandonment, propaganda and the atomization of everyday life that made many Jews come to feel what National Socialist policy had always intended-that they were Germans no more. H-German In 1940, Harvard University sent out a call to all German-Jewish refugees to describe their experiences both before and after 1933. These invaluable documents were only discovered in the University archives some fifty years later by the editors of this volume. The memoirs, written so soon after the emigration when impressions were still vivid, movingly and tellingly describe the gradual deterioration of the living conditions for Jews in Germany in the time period leading up to the war-the daily humiliations they had to suffer, and their desperate attempts to leave Germany. A great deal is written about Nazi Germany during war time, yet little is known about the years that preceded the war. Based on these collected eyewitness accounts, and with an informative introduction that places these experiences within a wider historical framework, this important book sheds new light on this time period. As this collection powerfully illustrates, these preceding years provide important clues and insights to the events that took place after November 1938, culminating in the Holocaust. Any attempt to come to grips with this dark period in history must take the revelations provided in this book into account. Margarete Limberg studied political science at the universities of Hamburg and Berlin. She is working as a broadcaster for German radio in Berlin. Her special areas of interest are contemporary history and policies in the arts and education. Hubert Rubsaat studies history, sociology, philosophy, and education at the University of Cologne. He works as broadcaster for North German radio where he heads the section on contemporary history and policies in education. Alan Nothnagle has taught history at the University of Iowa and the Europa- Universitat Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder. He currently lives and works as a freelance writer and translator in Berlin."
An examination of the modernization of the English and Welsh police during the interwar years, focusing upon the increasing professionalization of the police, the Federation, forensic work and the growth of traffic policing. The authors challenge the established viewpoint by arguing that this period saw significant changes in policing.
Mary Parrish was reading in her home when the Tulsa race massacre began on the evening of May 31, 1921. Parrish's daughter, Florence Mary, called the young journalist and teacher to the window. "Mother," she said, "I see men with guns." The two eventually fled into the night under a hail of bullets and unwittingly became eyewitnesses to one of the greatest race tragedies in American history. Spurred by word that a young Black man was about to be lynched for stepping on a white woman's foot, a three-day riot erupted that saw the death of hundreds of Black Oklahomans and the destruction of the Greenwood district, a prosperous, primarily Black area known nationally as Black Wall Street. The murdered were buried in mass graves, thousands were left homeless, and millions of dollars worth of Black-owned property was burned to the ground. The incident, which was hidden from history for decades, is now recognized as one of the worst episodes of racial violence in the United States. The Nation Must Awake, published for a wide audience for the first time, is Parrish's first-person account, along with the recollections of dozens of others, compiled immediately following the tragedy under the name Events of the Tulsa Race Disaster. With meticulous attention to detail that transports readers to those fateful days, Parrish documents the magnitude of the loss of human life and property at the hands of white vigilantes. The testimonies shine light on Black residents' bravery and the horror of seeing their neighbors gunned down and their community lost to flames. Parrish hoped that her book would "open the eyes of the thinking people to the impending danger of letting such conditions exist and in the 'Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.' " Although the story is a hundred years old, elements of its racial injustices are still being replayed in the streets of America today. Includes an afterword by Anneliese M. Bruner, Parrish's great-granddaughter, and an introduction by the late historian John Hope Franklin and Scott Ellsworth, author of The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice.
This reference is the only book-length work to analyze all of the major speeches of one of the most significant politicians of the first part of the twentieth century, Robert La Follette, Sr. His speeches offer historic snapshots into the Progressive era and of the thinking of an outstanding governor of Wisconsin, U.S. senator, and social agitator. This rhetorical biography analyzes key speeches and provides texts demonstrating how Senator La Follette used melodramatic scenarios to enlist citizens in his reform crusade against the gravest danger that he saw in this country. This reference also provides texts of his most important speeches, a chronology of his major orations, and a lengthy bibliography. This unique volume is designed for students and specialists in political communication, rhetorical criticism, and American studies. This systematical analysis of Senator La Follette's public speeches is a short and highly readable history of the Progressive era, World War I and its aftermath, and the early 1920s from the perspective of a leading political figure of the times. The analysis of La Follette's rhetorical strategy illuminates his use of confrontational tactics, such as the filibuster in Congress to educate the voter and to plead for reforms that he considered essential. This reference provides the texts of five seminal orations and the most complete bibliography of speeches available to date.
In The People's Zion, Joel Cabrita tells the transatlantic story of Southern Africa's largest popular religious movement, Zionism. It began in Zion City, a utopian community established in 1900 just north of Chicago. The Zionist church, which promoted faith healing, drew tens of thousands of marginalized Americans from across racial and class divides. It also sent missionaries abroad, particularly to Southern Africa, where its uplifting spiritualism and pan-racialism resonated with urban working-class whites and blacks. Circulated throughout Southern Africa by Zion City's missionaries and literature, Zionism thrived among white and black workers drawn to Johannesburg by the discovery of gold. As in Chicago, these early devotees of faith healing hoped for a color-blind society in which they could acquire equal status and purpose amid demoralizing social and economic circumstances. Defying segregation and later apartheid, black and white Zionists formed a uniquely cosmopolitan community that played a key role in remaking the racial politics of modern Southern Africa. Connecting cities, regions, and societies usually considered in isolation, Cabrita shows how Zionists on either side of the Atlantic used the democratic resources of evangelical Christianity to stake out a place of belonging within rapidly-changing societies. In doing so, they laid claim to nothing less than the Kingdom of God. Today, the number of American Zionists is small, but thousands of independent Zionist churches counting millions of members still dot the Southern African landscape. |
You may like...
Challenges and Approaches to…
Yiannis Koumpouros, Aggelos Georgoulas, …
Hardcover
R5,876
Discovery Miles 58 760
Detox Fashion - Supply Chain
Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu
Hardcover
R1,408
Discovery Miles 14 080
Energy Efficiency in Data Centers and…
Suyel Namasudra, Hamid Sarbazi-Azad
Hardcover
R4,212
Discovery Miles 42 120
|