Biography Between Structure and Agency : : Central European Lives in International Historiography / / ed. by Simone Lässig, Volker Berghahn.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Berghahn, Volker R.,; Berghoff, Hartmut,; Earl, Hilary,; Eckel, Jan,; Frijhoff, Willem,; Kershaw, Ian,; Lässig, Simone,; Pohl, Karl Heinrich,; Radkau, Joachim,; Rauh-Kühne, Cornelia,; Roseman, Mark,; Röhl, John C.G.,; Schaser, Angelika,; Strupp, Christoph,; Wildt, Michael,
• HerausgeberIn: Berghahn, Volker,; Lässig, Simone,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2008]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in German History ; 9
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.)

While bookstore shelves around the world have never ceased to display best-selling “life-and-letters” biographies in prominent positions, the genre became less popular among academic historians during the Cold War decades. Their main concern then was with political and socioeconomic structures, institutions, and organizations, or—more recently—with the daily lives of ordinary people and small communities. The contributors to this volume—all well known senior historians—offer self-critical reflections on problems they encountered when writing biographies themselves. Some of them also deal with topics specific to Central Europe, such as the challenges of writing about the lives of both victims and perpetrators. Although the volume concentrates on European historiography, its strong methodological and conceptual focus will be of great interest to non-European historians wrestling with the old “structure-versus-agency” question in their own work. Contributors: Volker R. Berghahn, Hartmut Berghoff, Hilary Earl, Jan Eckel, Willem Frijhoff, Ian Kershaw, Simone Lässig, Karl Heinrich Pohl, John C. G. Röhl, Angelika Schaser, Joachim Radkau, Cornelia Rauh-Kühne, Mark Roseman, Christoph Strupp and Michael Wildt.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Biography in Modern History— Modern Historiography in Biography -- Chapter 2 BIOGRAPHY AND THE HISTORIAN Opportunities and Constraints -- Chapter 3 DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES Writing the Biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II -- Chapter 4 GUSTAV STRESEMANN: A GERMAN BÜRGER? -- Chapter 5 WOMEN’S BIOGRAPHIES—MEN’S HISTORY? -- Chapter 6 HISTORIOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY, AND EXPERIENCE The Case of Hans Rothfels -- Chapter 7 A HISTORIAN’S LIFE IN BIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE: JOHAN HUIZINGA -- Chapter 8 THE HEROIC ECSTASY OF DRUNKEN ELEPHANTS Th e Substrate of Nature in Max Weber— A Missing Link between His Life and Work -- Chapter 9 GENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND GENOCIDE A Biographical Approach to Nazi Perpetrators -- Chapter 10 CRIMINAL BIOGRAPHIES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF CRIMINALS Understanding the History of War Crimes Trials and Perpetrator “Routes to Crime” using Biographical Method -- Chapter 11 FROM HIMMLER’S CIRCLE OF FRIENDS TO THE LIONS CLUB Th e Career of a Provincial Nazi Leader -- Chapter 12 CONTEXTS AND CONTRADICTIONS Writing the Biography of a Holocaust Survivor -- Chapter 13 THE IMPROBABLE BIOGRAPHY Uncommon Sources, a Moving Identity, a Plural Story? -- Chapter 14 STRUCTURALISM AND BIOGRAPHY Some Concluding Thoughts on the Uncertainties of a Historiographical Genre -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX