Hartmut Berghoff

Entrepreneur and Nazi functionary Fritz Kiehn lived through almost 100 years of German history, from the Bismarck era to the late Bonn Republic. A successful manufacturer, Kiehn joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and obtained a number of influential posts after 1933, making him one of the most powerful Nazi functionaries in southern Germany. These posts allowed him ample opportunity to profit from “Aryanizations” and state contracts. After 1945, he restored his reputation, was close to Adenauer’s CDU during Germany’s economic miracle, and was a respected and honored citizen in Trossingen. Kiehn’s biography provides a key to understanding the political upheavals of the twentieth century, especially the workings of the corrupt Nazi system as well as the “coming to terms” with National Socialism in the Federal Republic. (Source: [Berghahn Books](

The contributions to a joint conference of the Generations in Modern History graduate program of the University of Göttingen and the German Historical Institute in Washington confront the European idea of "youth generations" and "political generations" from the 1920s to the post-communist transformation with the more pragmatic American reading of demographic generations and consumer generations. The volume also deals with intellectual and political generations and with the significance of generations for demographic, economic and migration studies. In all of these cases, it seems that the generational logic is being reworked according to national agendas of belonging. Generational meanings may follow concrete biological genealogies, as in succession within family firms, or relate to more general categories of transformation, such as the cultural agenda of the Baby Boomers. But in every case, as these contributions from Europe and the U.S. show, historical time is read in generations, while history is not being made by generations.--

At a time when the human impact on the environment is more devastating than ever, business initiatives frame the quest to "green" capitalism as the key to humanity's long-term survival. Indeed, even before the rise of the environmental movement in the 1970s, businesses sometimes had reasons to protect parts of nature, limit their production of wastes, and support broader environmental reforms. In the last thirty years, especially, many businesses have worked hard to reduce their direct and indirect environmental footprint. But are these efforts exceptional, or can capitalism truly be environmentally conscious? Green Capitalism? offers a critical, historically informed perspective on building a more sustainable economy. Written by scholars of business history and environmental history, the essays in this volume consider the nature of capitalism through historical overviews of twentieth-century businesses and a wide range of focused case studies. Beginning early in the century, contributors explore the response of business leaders to environmental challenges in an era long before the formation of the modern regulatory state. Moving on to midcentury environmental initiatives, scholars analyze failed business efforts to green products and packaging—such as the infamous six-pack ring—in the 1960s and 1970s. The last section contains case studies of businesses that successfully managed greening initiatives, from the first effort by an electric utility to promote conservation, to the environmental overhaul of a Swedish mining company, to the problem of household waste in pre-1990 West Germany. Ranging in geographic scope from Europe to the United States, Green Capitalism? raises questions about capitalism in different historical, sociocultural, and political contexts. --

"This collection of essays explores the impact that nationalism, capitalism, and socialism had on economics during the first half of the twentieth century. Focusing on Central Europe, contributors examine the role that businesspeople and enterprises played in Germany's and Austria's paths to the catastrophe of Nazism. Based on new archival research, the essays gathered here ask how the business community became involved in the political process and describes the consequences arising from that involvement. Particular attention is given to the responses of individual businesspeople to changing political circumstances and their efforts to balance the demands of their consciences with the pursuit for profit"--

"By many measures, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) had the strongest economy in the Eastern bloc and was one of the most important industrial nations worldwide. Nonetheless, the economic history of the GDR has been primarily discussed as a failure when compared with the economic success of the Federal Republic and is often cited as one of the preeminent examples of central planning's deficiencies. This volume analyzes both the successes and failures of the East German economy. The contributors consider the economic history of East Germany within its broader political, cultural, and social contexts. Rather than limit their perspective to the period of the GDR's existence, the essays additionally consider the decades before 1945 and the post-1990 era. Contributors also trace the present and future of the East German economy and suggest possible outcomes"--

"The history of consumption has experienced remarkable growth since the 1980s, driven by the interest of scholars in a variety of historical subdisciplines and other social scientific fields. This volume seeks to bring the resultant diversity of specialized approaches into one common discourse. It takes stock of what consumption history has accomplished in recent decades, what current research agendas are, and where research should go from here. Assembled and introduced by Hartmut Berghoff and Uwe Spiekermann of the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC, the volume brings together contributions from scholars in Europe and the United States, who discuss consumption patterns and their implications for the development of modern consumer societies. The geographical scope of these articles encompasses not only both sides of the North Atlantic, but also Argentina, Africa, and Japan. The articles are informed by a variety of approaches, including environmental history, political history, business history, the history of science, cultural history, gender history, intellectual history, and anthropology. The volume is aimed both at specialists in consumption and consumption history as well as at academic readers who wish to familiarize themselves with the field in the first place"--

Beauty matters. Throughout the world, more and more people from all walks of life spend time and money to make themselves beautiful because beauty expresses identity and shapes status and success. Whether white or black, male or female, young or old, gay or straight, working- or middle-class, Western or non-Western, democratic or fascist, people everywhere have adopted a central maxim of the twentieth century: everyone can be beautiful, and everyone should become beautiful. This volume tracks the historical roots and meanings of modern beauty cultures in the twentieth century, drawing on examples from Europe, North America, the Near East, Asia, and Africa.

"Traditionally, Germany has been considered a minor player in Pacific history: its presence there was more limited than that of other European nations, and whereas its European rivals established themselves as imperial forces beginning in the early modern era, Germany did not seriously pursue colonialism until the nineteenth century. Yet thanks to recent advances in the field emphasizing transoceanic networks and cultural encounters, it is now possible to develop a more nuanced understanding of the history of Germans in the Pacific. The studies gathered here offer fascinating case studies of German missionary, commercial, scientific, and imperial activity against the backdrop of the Pacific's overlapping cultural circuits and complex oceanic transits"--