Between Reform, Reaction, and Resistance: Studies in the History of German Conservatism from 1789 to 1945

 

Edited by

 

Larry Eugene Jones and James Retallack

 

 

Opinion

 

 

“Larry Jones, a distinguished historian of politics in the Weimar Republic, and James Retallack, well-known for his work on conservatism in the Kaiserreich, have collaborated in this fine collection of essays by German, British, and North American scholars. … In addition to their own essays, Jones and Retallack also provide a model introduction to the volume, and expertly review more than six decades in the historiography of German conservatism. For anyone who wants to do research in this area, not only the individual contributions, but this introduction together with the comprehensive ‘select bibliography’ make the book essential.”

 

— Robert G. Moeller, European History Quarterly 25, no. 2 (April 1995): 298-301.

 

 

“In the introduction to this important and scholarly collection of essays on various aspects of German conservatism from the post-Napoleonic era to the collapse of the Third Reich, the editors …argue convincingly that the conservatives neither manipulated German politics in the second half of the nineteenth century, nor did they just react to them with hopeless incompetence. … German conservatism, like any other large-scale political movement, was often inconsistent and ambivalent. But its fateful impact on German history can hardly be doubted.”

 

— Anthony J. Nicholls, German History 13, no. 3 (1995): 418-20.

 

 

“The excellent introduction to the book by the two editors gives, as is to be expected, due account of the typologies of German conservatism … as well as of its historiography. … The tapestry of history is made of trial and error, folly and wisdom, courage and cowardice, goodness and wickedness, and only when we grasp all these dimensions can we approach it properly. By these terms the essays in this volume on the whole do justice to the intricate and vexing story of German conservatism.”

 

— Klemens von Klemperer, Central European History 27, no. 2 (1994): 232-4.

 

 

“[T]his volume shows that German conservatism is a thriving, exciting field full of outstanding scholarship and wide open to innovative research.”

 

— Joseph W. Bendersky, Conference Group on German Politics (1994): 12-13.

 

 

“An introductory article by L. E. Jones and J. N. Retallack serves as an excellent and useful introduction to recent developments in German and Anglo-American research on the topic. ... This outstanding volume is indispensable for specialists in the field of German conservatism and highly recommended for a public with a more general interest in German history and society.”

 

— Erhard Stölting, German Studies Review 19, no. 3 (October 1996): 566-7.

 

This information is provided by the Department of History at the University of Toronto.
All contents (c) 1994-2007 James Retallack and the University of Toronto. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 7 March 2007.