Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History

by Joe Perry

Overview

Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469622132
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	12/01/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Joe Perry is associate professor of modern German and European history at Georgia State University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Perry's work is original, comprehensively researched, and a major contribution to understanding the central importance of the evolution of a consumer culture in modern Germany. The scholarship is sound, impressive, and provocative.—Rudy Koshar, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Editorial Reviews

This richly illustrated volume explores the invention, evolution, and politicization of Germany's favorite national holiday. . . .—Lone Star Book Review

This book will be of immediate interest to German scholars. As an example of an unusually insightful, inventive, and rigorous cultural history, it deserves a wider audience. Compellingly written, jargon-free, and thoroughly researched . . . Christmas in Germany is a fascinating contribution to modern German and contemporary cultural history.—American Historical Review

Written in a rich yet clear and comprehensible language, splendidly illustrated with materials from the corresponding eras, it is delightful reading for professional historians, students, and non-academic enthusiasts of history alike.—Journal of NC Association of Historians

From the Publisher

American Christmas traditions include many borrowed from Germany, including such mainstays as the Christmas tree and the carol "Silent Night." Here, Perry (modern German & European history, Univ. of Georgia) takes the cultural history of Christmas in Germany through the last 200 years. He doesn't simply describe well-known German traditions but delves into the political circumstances—for example, the nationalism—that came newly to shape the 19th-century German Christmas celebration, giving us much of what we consider Christmas to be today. Perry also covers both the Christmas truce of 1914 in World War I and the handling of Christmas during the Third Reich with the advent of Volksweihnachten ("people's Christmas"). VERDICT Rich with illustrations and the use of German primary sources, this book will be loved by German history buffs and broader cultural historians—a welcome addition to academic collections. Extensive notes and a lengthy bibliography will aid any researcher in this subject area.—Holly Hebert, Rochester Coll. Lib., Rochester Hills, MI

Library Journal