Now capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin rose from insignificant origins on swampy soil, becoming a city of immigrants over the ages. Through a series of ten vignettes, Mary Fulbrook discusses the periods and regimes that shaped its character – whether Prussian militarism; courtly culture and enlightenment; rapid industrialisation and expansion; ambitious imperialism; experiments with democracy; or repressive dictatorships of both right and left, dramatically evidenced in the violence of World War and genocide, and then in the Wall dividing Cold War Berlin. This book also presents Berlin's distinctive history as firmly rooted in specific places and sites. Statues and memorials have been erected and demolished, plaques displayed and displaced, and streets named and renamed in recurrent cycles of suppression or resurrection of heroes and remembrance of victims. This vivid and engaging introduction thus reveals Berlin's startling transformations and contested legacies through ten moments from critical points in its multi-layered history.
- Provides a clear and engaging introduction to the whole of Berlin's history, setting the sites and memorials of the city into a long-term perspective
- Explores how concepts of 'Berlin' have been experienced, imagined and constructed over the centuries
- Outlines the shifting social demographics and physical scale of Berlin, illuminating the repeated transformations of the city
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Product details
- Publication planned for: October 2024
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781009160933
- length: 254 pages
- dimensions: 216 x 140 mm
- availability: Not yet published - available from October 2024
Table of Contents
Introduction: People, place, identity
1. Foundational moments
2. Courtly residence
3. Absolutism and enlightenment
4. Emerging powerhouse: from Napoleon to unification
5. World city: Imperial Berlin
6. Greater Berlin: the Weimar era
7. Nazi Berlin: performance, persecution and destruction
8. Double visions (1): Divided Berlin from the war to the Wall
9. Double visions (2): Divided Berlin from the Wall to reunification
10. Re-connection: United Berlin since 1990
Epilogue: forever changing, yet always Berlin
Index.
Author
Mary Fulbrook, University College London
Mary Fulbrook, FBA, is Professor of German History at University College London. Her previous publications include the Wolfson Prize-winning Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice (2018) and the Fraenkel Prize-winning A Small Town near Auschwitz: Ordinary Nazis and the Holocaust (2012). Her mother fled Berlin in the 1930s, and Fulbrook has long been fascinated by the city.