Weimar Germany

Between 1919 and 1933 the Weimar Republic faced political violence, economic breakdown, and sharp divisions between generations and between the sexes, yet it also produced bold cultural experiments. Historians have often looked at these years only as a prelude to Nazi rule. Paul Bookbinder approaches the period on its own terms, asking what Weimar was and not just how it ended.

The Republic's cultural life was among the most innovative in Europe, and many of its artists and writers took active political stands in a climate full of dispute. Public debate was fierce over traditional moral codes and newer demands for women's sexual freedom, rights for homosexuals, abortion, and contraception. Women took on a real political role for the first time, and many who began the decade backing the Republic had turned against it by its end.

The book also examines the contest for the allegiance of young people, which the political right ultimately won. Jews were targeted by racist antisemites who cast them as the ultimate outsiders. Throughout, political, industrial, labor, and religious leaders clashed with one another and refused to set aside narrow, short-term interests to defend the Republic.

Written as a compact, accessible textbook, it suits students of twentieth-century European history and German studies who want a clear introduction to the period.