Scordatura reviewed Weimar Germany by Eric D. Weitz
Review of 'Weimar Germany' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A very thorough overview of Weimar Germany: the political and economical circumstances that led to the formation of the Republic and to its eventual (this book clearly argues: inevitable) downfall. There are also chapters on the arts (film, architecture, philosophy), the radical changes that took place in German society (in the area of sexuality, women’s and worker’s rights etc) and how all these forces interacted.
Due to the thematic approach, there are a few instances where arguments are repeated unnecessarily, though only the reader who goes from cover to cover will find that annoying – people who focus on only selected chapters will undoubtedly find this very useful.
The only real criticism I have is the lack of a full bibliography: instead, there’s a bibliographical essay which probably highlighted the most crucial texts, but it seems awfully brief for a book with an approach this broad. A missed opportunity, especially …
A very thorough overview of Weimar Germany: the political and economical circumstances that led to the formation of the Republic and to its eventual (this book clearly argues: inevitable) downfall. There are also chapters on the arts (film, architecture, philosophy), the radical changes that took place in German society (in the area of sexuality, women’s and worker’s rights etc) and how all these forces interacted.
Due to the thematic approach, there are a few instances where arguments are repeated unnecessarily, though only the reader who goes from cover to cover will find that annoying – people who focus on only selected chapters will undoubtedly find this very useful.
The only real criticism I have is the lack of a full bibliography: instead, there’s a bibliographical essay which probably highlighted the most crucial texts, but it seems awfully brief for a book with an approach this broad. A missed opportunity, especially as the recent (2018) reprint could have been used to correct this oversight.
A more minor nit-pick is the very frequent use of quotations from quotations (from secondary sources), without the author citing the original primary source. A remarkable approach for a book that is often cited as a key text as an introduction to Weimar Germany.
