This book is based on a symposium which took place in April 2009 and was part of a year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It presents ten essays by scholars from North America and Europe working in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences that endeavor to move the discipline of German-American studies away from the narrowly conceived historical investigation of the migration of ethnic Germans to America that has dominated the field for decades. The traditional understanding of what it meant to be German-American as well as the myths associated with the ethnicity, language, and literature of this large group of immigrants are thrown into question and reassessed, and potential directions for the future of the field - as it exists on both sides of the Atlantic - are posited. The novel approach of this volume examines German-American studies from historical, literary, cultural, geographical, and linguistic perspectives, among others, and seeks to redefine the field as the study of the total experience of German-speaking immigrants and their descendants as seen in a global, multicultural, and interdisciplinary context.

Newest volume of the central scholarly forum for discussion of Brecht and aspects of theater and literature of particular interest to him, especially the politics of literature and theater in a global context. Now published for the International Brecht Society by Camden House under the Society's editorship, the Brecht Yearbook is the central scholarly forum for discussion of the life and work of Bertolt Brecht and of aspects of theater and literature that were of particular interest to him, especially the politics of literature and theater in a global context. The Yearbook welcomes a wide variety of perspectives and approaches, and, like Brecht himself, it is committed to the use value of literature, theater, and theory. Volume 40 features new research on Brechtian concepts of temporality (Matthias Rothe) and the apparatus (Thomas Pekar), as well as articles on the "Bilder aus der Kriegsfibel" (Arnold Pistiak), the poem "Die Nachtlager" (Klaus-Dieter Krabiel), Brecht and Peruvian theater (Carlos Vargas-Salgado), early Brecht productions in Australia (Laura Ginters), and Brecht and Karl Kraus (Jost Hermand). Biographically oriented pieces focus on Brecht and the Chinese author Feng Zhi (Lin Cheng) and an unpublished letter to Brecht from 1918 (Jurgen Hillesheim). Special contents include a portfolio of drawings by DieterGoltzsche, with a brief introduction by the artist, a tribute to Sara Joffre, a brief set of texts related to the exchanges between Hanns Eisler and Hans Bunge, introduced by Sabine Berendse, and an open letter to Brecht from Hans-Thies Lehmann and Helene Varopoulou. Theodore F. Rippey is Associate Professor of German at Bowling Green State University.