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.

An engaging introduction to a fascinating city, exploring its historical layers, startling transformations and contested legacies.

About the Author
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.


Book Information
ISBN 9781009160940
Author Mary Fulbrook
Format Hardback
Page Count 300
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press