"Ten essays, each with extensive citations, by prominent German and US scholars consider significant themes in German history.A clearly organized 'selected bibliography' adds to its importance for students and scholars interested in this path breaking shift toward a more balanced understanding of Germany's history. Highly recommended." . Choice A wonderful compendium, perfect for classroom use - and a terrific resource for scholars. The essays provide valuable original perspectives on some of the most significant controversies currently engaging historians of Germany, as they also document just how profoundly careful attention to questions of gender has infused and transformed many subfields in German history - including the study of religion, political protest, war, and colonialism. . Dagmar Herzog, Graduate Center, City University of New York Authors take on the big themes and debates of German history, providing unparalleled evidence -- including extensive footnotes and a bibliographical chapter -- that gender has not only challenged mainstream ("malestream") German history but has in many cases, indeed, rewritten it. This rich and thought-provoking book is a "must" for scholars and students concerned with historiographical debates, the transatlantic dialogue among scholars, and issues of theory and methodology. It will also attract a public interested in gender history and is intrigued by the effects of gender more generally. . Marion Kaplan, New York University This incisive collection of essays details the impact of a focus on women and gender on historical writing on modern Germany. Attuned to developments in the United States and Germany, the essays carefully distinguish points of convergence and divergence in approach and methodology between the two academic cultures and provide a nuanced overview of the current state of the field as well as desiderata for the future. Leading scholars illuminate how gendered perspectives have revolutionized understanding of the conventional stuff of history - such as nation, politics, military, religion, and the state - while opening up critical new avenues of analysis around citizenship, family, sexuality, colonialism, minority relations, and memory. An invaluable resource for students and scholars of German history and gender studies alike. . Heide Fehrenbach, Northern Illinois University Karen Hagemann is the James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on modern German and European History and Gender History, in particular the history of labor, welfare, and education, the women's movements, and the nation, military, and war. Jean H. Quataert is Professor of German History and Women's Studies at Binghamton University, SUNY. Her research focuses on the history of the labor movement, the history of nation and gender, and most recently human rights history and global women's history in 19th and 20th century."

Writing on the history of German women has - like women's history elsewhere - undergone remarkable expansion and change since it began in the late 1960s. Today Women's history still continues to flourish alongside gender history but the focus of research has increasingly shifted from women to gender. This shift has made it possible to make men and masculinity objects of historical research too. After more than thirty years of research, it is time for a critical stocktaking of the "gendering" of the historiography on nineteenth and twentieth century Germany. To provide a critical overview in a comparative German-American perspective is the main aim of this volume, which brings together leading experts from both sides of the Atlantic. They discuss in their essays the state of historiography and reflect on problems of theory and methodology. Through compelling case studies, focusing on the nation and nationalism, military and war, colonialism, politics and protest, class and citizenship, religion, Jewish and non-Jewish Germans, the Holocaust, the body and sexuality and the family, this volume demonstrates the extraordinary power of the gender perspective to challenge existing interpretations and rewrite mainstream arguments.

Examining the convergence of socialism and feminism in the German labor movement around the turn of the century, Jean Quataert probes the competing identities and loyalties of class and sex and the problems their adherents faced in reconciling the two. By focusing on the women's movement in particular, she expands our understanding of the German Social Democratic subculture and shows that socialist feminism was far more important than has been recognized heretofore. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Examining the convergence of socialism and feminism in the German labor movement around the turn of the century, Jean Quataert probes the competing identities and loyalties of class and sex and the problems their adherents faced in reconciling the two. By focusing on the women's movement in particular, she expands our understanding of the German Social Democratic subculture and shows that socialist feminism was far more important than has been recognized heretofore. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"Staging Philanthropy "is a history of women's philanthropic associations during Germany's "long" nineteenth century. Challenged by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic occupation and war, dynastic groups in Germany made community welfare and its defense part of newly-gendered social obligations, sponsoring a network of state women's associations, philanthropic institutions, and nursing orders which were eventually coordinated by the German Red Cross. These patriotic groups helped fashion an official nationalism that defended conservative power and authority in the new nation-state.
An original and truly multi-disciplinary work, "Staging Philanthropy" uses archival research to reconstruct the neglected history of women's philanthropic organizations during the 'long' nineteenth century. Borrowing from cultural anthropologists, Jean Quataert explores how meaning is created in the theater of politics. Linking gender with nationalism and war with humanitarianism, Quataert weaves her analysis together with themes of German historiography and the wider context of European history.
"Staging Philanthropy" will interest readers in German history, women's history, politics and anthropology, as well as those whose interest is in medicalization and the German Red Cross. This book situates itself in the middle of a string of debates pertaining to modern German history and, thus, should also appeal to readers from the general educated public.
Jean Quataert is Professor of History and Women's Studies, Binghamton University. She has previously published a number of books, including "Connecting Spheres: European Women in a Globalizing World, 1500 to the Present" with Marilyn J. Boxer (Oxford, 1999).