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History > Western European History
Jean-Martin Charcot
Charcot in Morocco is the first-ever publication of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot’s travel diary of his 1887 trip to Morocco. Considered the father of neuropathology, Charcot (1825–1893) is a seminal character in the history of neurology and psychology. His Moroccan travel diary includes his “objective” observations of the local Jewish community, which only fortified his assumptions about the relationship between race and neuropathology. These became a conspicuous feature of his ideas about the hereditary origins of nervous ailments. His ideas – taught as doctrine to a vast audience, including a young Sigmund Freud – reveal the convergence of clinical observation and European anti-Semitism at the end of the nineteenth century.
Including an enlightening critical introduction by renowned Charcot expert Toby Gelfand, Charcot in Morocco provides new insights into the personality of this influential figure and his perspectives on the “Orient” and its inhabitants.
British Guiana's Struggle for Independence
Colin A. Palmer
Informed by the first use of many British, U.S., and Guyanese archival sources, Palmer's work details Jagan's rise and fall, from his initial electoral victory in the spring of 1953 to the aftermath of the British-orchestrated coup d'état that led to the suspension of the constitution and the removal of Jagan's independence-minded administration. Jagan's political odyssey continued--he was reelected to the premiership in 1957--but in 1964 he fell out of power again under intense pressure from Guianese, British, and U.S. officials suspicious of Marxist influences on the People's Progressive Party, the popular nationalist party founded in 1950 by Jagan and his activist wife, Janet Rosenberg. But Jagan's political life was not over--after decades in the opposition, he became Guyana's president in 1992.
A Cultural History
Joe Perry
For poets, priests, and politicians--and especially ordinary Germans--in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the image of the loving nuclear family gathered around the Christmas tree symbolized the unity of the nation at large. German Christmas was supposedly organic, a product of the winter solstice rituals of pagan Teutonic tribes, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and the age-old customs that defined German character. Yet, as Joe Perry argues, Germans also used these annual celebrations to contest the deepest values that held the German community together: faith, family, and love, certainly, but also civic responsibility, material prosperity, and national belonging.
German Protestants Confront the Nazi Past
Matthew D. Hockenos
This book closely examines the turmoil in the German Protestant churches
in the immediate postwar years as they attempted to come to terms with the recent
past. Reeling from the impact of war, the churches addressed the consequences of
cooperation with the regime and the treatment of Jews. In Germany, the Protestant
Church consisted of 28 autonomous regional churches. During the Nazi years, these
churches formed into various alliances. One group, the German Christian Church,
openly aligned itself with the Nazis. The rest were cautiously opposed to the regime
or tried to remain noncommittal. The internal debates, however, involved every group
and centered on issues of belief that were important to all. Important theologians
such as Karl Barth were instrumental in pressing these issues forward. While not an
exhaustive study of Protestantism during the Nazi years, A Church Divided breaks new
ground in the discussion of responsibility, guilt, and the Nazi past.
Vienna and the Imperial Court, 1600-1740
by John Spielman
Spielman presents the role of the Habsburg court in the rise of Vienna the early modem period. His study clearly shows the extraordinarily complex web of interrelationships and interdependencies between the court, its servants, and the city as each strove to protect its privileges.
German Reconstruction and the Invention of the West
Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
For the past century, politicians have claimed that "Western Civilization" epitomizes democratic values and international stability. But who is a member of "Western Civilization"? Germany, for example, was a sworn enemy of the United States and much of Western Europe in the first part of the twentieth century, but emerged as a staunch Western ally after World War II. By examining German reconstruction under the Marshall Plan, author Patrick Jackson shows how the rhetorical invention of a West that included Germany was critical to the emergence of the postwar world order. Civilizing the Enemy convincingly describes how concepts are strategically shaped and given weight in modern international relations, by expertly dissecting the history of "the West" and demonstrating its puzzling persistence in the face of contradictory realities. "By revisiting the early Cold War by means of some carefully conducted intellectual history, Patrick Jackson expertly dissects the post-1945 meanings of "the West" for Europe's emergent political imaginary. West German reconstruction, the foundation of NATO, and the idealizing of 'Western civilization' all appear in fascinating new light." --Geoff Eley, University of Michigan "Western civilization is not given but politically made. In this theoretically sophisticated and politically nuanced book, Patrick Jackson argues that Germany's reintegration into a Western community of nations was greatly facilitated by civilizational discourse. It established a compelling political logic that guided the victorious Allies in their occupation policy. This book is very topical as it engages critically very different, and less successful, contemporary theoretical constructions and political deployments of civilizational discourse." --Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University "What sets Patrick Jackson's book apart is his attention, on the one hand, to philosophical issues behind the kinds of theoretical claims he makes and, on the other hand, to the methodological implications that follow from those claims. Few scholars are willing and able to do both, and even fewer are as successful as he is in carrying it off. Patrick Jackson is a systematic thinker in a field where theory is all the rage but systematic thinking is in short supply." --Nicholas Onuf, Florida International University Patrick Thaddeus Jackson is Assistant Professor of International Relations in American University's School of International Service.
The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain
Richard L. Kagan
Monarchs throughout the ages have commissioned official histories that cast their reigns in a favorable light for future generations. These accounts, sanctioned and supported by the ruling government, often gloss over the more controversial aspects of a king's or queen’s time on the throne. Instead, they present highly selective and positive readings of a monarch’s contribution to national identity and global affairs.
In Clio and the Crown, Richard L. Kagan examines the official histories of Spanish monarchs from medieval times to the middle of the 18th century. He expertly guides readers through the different kinds of official histories commissioned: those whose primary focus was the monarch; those that centered on the Spanish kingdom as a whole; and those that celebrated Spain’s conquest of the New World. In doing so, Kagan also documents the life and work of individual court chroniclers, examines changes in the practice of official history, and highlights the political machinations that influenced the redaction of such histories.
Just as world leaders today rely on fast-talking press officers to explain their sometimes questionable actions to the public, so too did the kings and queens of medieval and early modern Spain. Monarchs often went to great lengths to exert complete control over the official history of their reign, physically intimidating historians, destroying and seizing manuscripts and books, rewriting past histories, and restricting history writing to authorized persons.
Still, the larger practice of history writing—as conducted by nonroyalist historians, various scholars and writers, and even church historians—provided a corrective to official histories. Kagan concludes that despite its blemishes, the writing of official histories contributed, however imperfectly, to the practice of historiography itself.
Governor Edward Carstensen on Danish Guinea 1842-50
Sitting on the terrace of the royal plantation Frederiksgave, his favourite retreat, Governor Edward Carstensen came to see the inevitable: Denmark had to give up her ìpossessionsî in Africa. As fate would have it, he came to be the instrument by which two centuries of Danish involvement on the Gold Coast was terminated, thereby making way for the emergence of the colonial system that developed there. After the abolition of the slave trade, Denmark had struggled to find ways and means to legitimate her continued stay at the Coast. At an early stage the Danes initiated a number of attempts to establish experimental plantations to cultivate export crops such as cotton, coffee and sugar. But a transition from slave trade to ìlegitimateî products required stability and peace, and a need for control, which the rather limited Danish presence was not able to maintain. Closing the Books comprises a compilation of the official reports that the last Danish Governor sent home during his term of office at the Gold Coast. The reports reflect his personal views regarding the economic and political situations there, as well as his ideas on the ìcivilization of Africaî.
A Diplomat's View of the Breakdown of Democracy in Cold War Greece
Robert V. Keeley with a prologue by John O. Iatrides