History of Germany 1918-2000: The Divided Nation (Blackwell Classic Histories of Europe S.)

This accessible study traces the dramatic social, cultural and political tensions in Germany since 1918. It ranges from the self-destructive Weimar Republic, through the extremes of genocide and military aggression in the Nazi era, to the extraordinary political experimentation of division of the nation in the Cold War, culminating in the collapse of communist East Germany and unification with capitalist democratic West Germany in 1990. The first edition of this book - one of the very first to appear after the fall of the Berlin Wall, treating East and West German history in equal depth - offered a powerful interpretation of the dynamics of twentieth-century German history. It focused particularly on the role of elites, and on the implications of political dissent and opposition under changing socio-economic conditions and international circumstances. For the second edition, revisions have been made to incorporate the results of recent research, an epilogue covering the years 1990 - 2000 has been added, and the suggestions for further reading and the bibliography have been updated.

Educated at Cambridge and Harvard, Mary Fulbrook is Professor of German History at University College, London. She was co-founder and Joint Editor of German History, the journal of the German History Society, and served as Chair of this Society from 1996-99. She has published widely in German and comparative European history, including a number of edited volumes. Her previous publications include 'A Concise History of Germany' (1990), 'Interpretations of the Two Germanies, 1945-1990' (Second Edition, 2000), 'Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949-1989' (1995) and 'German National Identity After the Holocaust' (1999).