Andreas Killen. Homo Cinematicus: Science, Motion Pictures, and the Making of Modern Germany. (Intellectual History of the Modern Age.) viii + 268 pp., figs., bibl., index. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. $69.95 (cloth). ISBN 9780812249279.

Isis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 864-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Schnädelbach
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Modern Germany ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
History Of

Authoritarianism in Modern Germany History

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-95
Author(s):  
Michael Meng
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
German History ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Global History ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Modern Germany ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
History Of

Why study the history of modern German-speaking Central Europe? If pressed to answer this question fifty years ago, a Germanist would likely have said something to the effect that one studies modern German history to trace the “German” origins of Nazism, with the broader aim of understanding authoritarianism. While the problem of authoritarianism clearly remains relevant to this day, the nation-state-centered approach to understanding it has waned, especially in light of the recent shift toward transnational and global history. The following essay focuses on the issue of authoritarianism, asking whether the study of German history is still relevant to authoritarianism. It begins with a review of two conventional approaches to understanding authoritarianism in modern German history, and then thinks about it in a different way through G. W. F. Hegel in an effort to demonstrate the vibrancy of German intellectual history for exploring significant and global issues such as authoritarianism.

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