German Studies

German Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Germany about their new books.

Anne Berg, "Empire of Rags and Bones: Waste and War in Nazi Germany" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 11, 2024

Empire of Rags and Bones

Anne Berg
Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

Paper, bottles, metal scrap, kitchen garbage, rubber, hair, fat, rags, and bones--the Nazi empire demanded its population obsessively collect anything…

Kristina Kolbe, "The Sound of Difference: Race, Class and the Politics of 'Diversity' in Classical Music" (Manchester UP, 2024)

November 2, 2024

The Sound of Difference

Kristina Kolbe
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What happens when the elitist space of 'Western' classical music seeks to diversify itself? And what are the social effects worked through diversity d…

Friederike Baer, "Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War" (Oxford UP, 2022)

October 30, 2024

Hessians

Friederike Baer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between 1776 and 1783, Britain hired an estimated 30,000 German soldiers to fight in its war against the Americans. Collectively known as Hessians, th…

John Freed, "Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth" (Yale UP, 2016)

October 22, 2024

Frederick Barbarossa

John Freed
Hosted by Mark Klobas

For all of his importance as a medieval ruler, there are surprisingly few biographies in English of the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa (c. 1122-1…

Vanessa Christina Wills, "Marx's Ethical Vision" (Oxford UP, 2024)

October 21, 2024

Marx's Ethical Vision

Vanessa Christina Wills
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

Does Marx have a coherent ethical vision? How does that square with his sometimes-scathing dismissal of morality? What does his critique of capital ha…

Thomas Weber, "Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi" (Basic Books, 2017)

October 18, 2024

Becoming Hitler

Thomas Weber
Hosted by Darren O' Byrne

Few would dispute that Hitler's ideas led to war and genocide. Less clear however, is how and when those ideas developed. In his latest book, Becoming…

Rachel O'Sullivan, "Nazi Germany, Annexed Poland and Colonial Rule: Resettlement, Germanization and Population Policies in Comparative Perspective" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

October 16, 2024

Nazi Germany, Annexed Poland and Colonial Rule

Rachel O'Sullivan
Hosted by Kelly McFall

Nazi Germany, Annexed Poland and Colonial Rule: Resettlement, Germanization and Population Policies in Comparative Perspective (Bloomsbury, 2023) exam…

Meghana Joshi, "Children are Everywhere: Conspicuous Reproduction and Childlessness in Reunified Berlin" (Berghahn, 2024)

October 15, 2024

Children are Everywhere

Meghana Joshi
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Children are Everywhere: Conspicuous Reproduction and Childlessness in Reunified Berlin (Berghahn Books, 2024) by Dr. Meghana Joshi engages with how d…

A Deep Dive on Karl Marx's "Capital" with Paul Reitter and Paul North

October 8, 2024

A Deep Dive on Karl Marx's "Capital"

Paul Reitter and Paul North
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

Over 150 years ago, Marx published the first volume of Capital, a systematic and voluminous account of capitalism, from the economic bedrock all t…

Nick Lloyd, "The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918" (Norton, 2024)

October 6, 2024

The Eastern Front

Nick Lloyd
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Writing in the 1920s, Winston Churchill argued that the First World War on the Eastern Front was "incomparably the greatest war in history. In its sca…

Jeffrey Ding, "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic Competition" (Princeton UP, 2024)

October 5, 2024

Technology and the Rise of Great Powers

Jeffrey Ding

When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the mom…

Steven T. Katz, "The Holocaust and New World Slavery: A Comparative History" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

September 30, 2024

The Holocaust and New World Slavery

Steven T. Katz
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Holocaust and New World Slavery: A Comparative History (Cambridge UP, 2019) offers the first, in-depth comparison of the Holocaust and new world s…

J. C. D. Clark, "The Enlightenment: An Idea and Its History" (Oxford UP, 2024)

September 28, 2024

The Enlightenment

J. C. D. Clark
Hosted by Garima Garg

Enlightenment studies are currently in a state of flux, with unresolved arguments among its adherents about its dates, its locations, and the contents…

Waitman Wade Beorn, "Between the Wires: The Janowska Camp and the Holocaust in Lviv" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)

September 27, 2024

Between the Wires

Waitman Wade Beorn
Hosted by Kelly McFall

Waitman Wade Beorn's book Between the Wires: The Janowska Camp and the Holocaust in Lviv (University of Nebraska Press, 2024) tells for the first time…

Anthony Tucker-Jones, "The Fall of Berlin: The Final Days of Hitler's Evil Regime" (Sirius, 2024)

September 25, 2024

The Fall of Berlin

Anthony Tucker-Jones

In April 1945, Soviet forces descended on Berlin in the final phase of the war in Europe. The fighting was fierce as soldiers fanatically loyal to the…

Francesco Lotoro, "The Lost Music of the Holocaust: Bringing the Music of the Camps to the Ears of the World at Last" (Headline, 2024)

September 24, 2024

Lost Music of the Holocaust

Francesco Lotoro
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Scores sewn into coat linings, instruments hidden in suitcases, sheet music stashed among dirty laundry, concertos written on discarded food wrappers …

The Far-Right Threat in German Politics: A Discussion with Marcus Böick

September 23, 2024

The Far-Right Threat in German Politics

Marcus Böick

The recent elections in eastern Germany, where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the first far-right party to win a parliamentary election at t…

Lucy Weir, "Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury" (Routledge, 2024)

September 21, 2024

Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury

Lucy Weir
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Can self-harm be art? In Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury (Routledge, 2024), Lucy Weir, a Reader in History of Art at the University of Edinb…

Tom Navon, "Radical Assimilation in the Face of the Holocaust: Otto Heller (1897–1945)" (SUNY Press, 2024)

September 21, 2024

Radical Assimilation in the Face of the Holocaust

Tom Navon
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

This book explores the confrontation of radically assimilated Jews with the violent collapse of their envisioned integration into a cosmopolitan Europ…

William H. F. Altman, "The German Stranger: Leo Strauss and National Socialism" (Lexington Books, 2010)

September 18, 2024

The German Stranger

William H. F. Altman
Hosted by Joseph Liss

Leo Strauss was a German-Jewish emigrant to the United States, an author, professor and political philosopher. Born in 1899 in Kirchhain in the Kingdo…