Fatherlands: State-Building and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany

Description

Fatherlands is an original study of the nature of identity in nineteenth-century Germany, which has crucial implications for the understanding of nationalism, German unification and the German nation state in the modern era. The book approaches these questions from a new and important angle, that of the non-national territorial state. It explores the nature and impact of state-building in non-Prussian Germany. The issues covered range from railway construction and German industrialisation, to the modernisation of German monarchy, the emergence of a free press, the development of a modern educational system, and the role of monuments, museums and public festivities. Fatherlands draws principally on extensive primary research focusing on the three kingdoms of Hanover, Saxony and Wurttemberg. It is an attempt to 'join up the dots' of German history - moving beyond isolated local, regional and state-based studies to a general understanding of the state formation process in Germany.

'... it will be a great success which will make many stimulating contributions to early modern and modern European history ... elegant, persuasive, and eminently readable ... Abigail Green has succeeded in moving the goal posts for any enquiry into the growth of nationalism and the persistence of particularism in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century.' Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, London '... closely argued and tremendously well researched ... It should become required reading for those interested in the development of German nationalism ... The book deserves to have a major impact.' Nations and Nationalism 'State-building and nationhood are among German historiography's most durable subjects, but in Abigail Green's fine book we see them in a strikingly new context.' The English Historical Review 'Green has devised a challenging but worthwhile and manageable comparative historical project.' German History '... for scholars interested in nationalism, state formation, or nineteenth-century Germany, this book is indispensable.' Journal of Social History