Hi all! I’m going to be updating this over the rest of the semester, cultivating a select bibliography on multiple class themes. These themes could develop into a research project, or could be a good way to find sources on a topic you want to read further in.
Urban History and Culture
Haine, Scott W. The World of the Paris Café: Sociability Among the French Working Class, 1789-1914. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
In this work, American historian of France Scott Haine invites readers into the world of the French café. During the 19th century, cafés become places where people gathered to exchange information. Haine explores the way the working class in Paris used cafés to develop an identity, focusing the lens on working people rather than intellectuals and elites.
Koven, Seth. Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London. Princeton University Press, 2004.
In Slumming, Professor Seth Koven examines the Victorian trend in which well-to-do city-dwellers would visit slums and their residents – to look, to help, or to study. Koven’s interdisciplinary study examines gender, sexuality and sexual orientation among both London’s poor and its upper-class. The work, centered on London, covers the 1860s to the 1890s.
Lees, Andrew and Lynn Hollen Lees. Cities and the Making of the Modern Europe, 1750-1914.
While this work begins long before the time period we are studying for this class, it provides critical context on the formation of modern European cities. With the rapid rise of urbanization during the mid-eighteenth to the early-twentieth century, Europe was shifting to a primarily urban continent. The authors explore the reasons behind this growth and its impacts on culture, society, industry, and politics. They also consider Europe’s imperial history and the way its colonies influenced and were influenced by these changes.
Schlör, Joachim. Nights in the Big City: Paris, Berlin, London 1840-1930. London: Reaktion Books, 1998.
With the developments in gas and electricity in the 19th century, the days no longer had to end when the sun went down. In Nights in the Big City, Schlör examines the changing perceptions of the night and people’s experiences with it in the cities of London, Paris, and Berlin. Schlör grounds his work in primary sources by consulting police reports, first-hand accounts, and literature.
Schorske, Carl E. Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture. New York: Random House, 1980.
This work, written by cultural historian Carl E. Schorske, won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1981. Schorske taught at Wesleyan, University of California at Berkeley, and Princeton. An intellectual history, Fin-De-Siecle Vienna explores the turbulent political and social change of late 19th century Vienna, and the ramifications in the arts and culture.
Williams, Raymond. The Country and the City. Oxford University Press, 1975.
In The County and the City, Williams examines portrayals of urban and rural life in popular English literature, and then holds these images up against reality. He begins with works published in the sixteenth century, and then traces the theme up through the twentieth century. Williams argues that literature emphasizes the divide between the city and the country, and plays into existing tropes associated with both. Williams’s work combines historical studies and literary analysis to present a cultural analysis.
The Holocaust Outside of Germany
Gross, Jan T. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland. Princeton University Press, 2001.
Professor of History at Princeton University, Jan T. Gross examines the tragic murder of the Jewish residents of Jedwabne, a town in Nazi-occupied Poland. The crime was perpetrated not by Nazi soldiers, but by the non-Jewish residents of the town. The book explores reactions of civilians under Nazi rule, as well as Polish-Jewish relations.
Marrus, Michael R. and Robert O. Paxton. Vichy France and the Jews. New York: Basic Books, 1981.
Vichy France cooperated with the Nazis in their effort to eliminate Jewish people. In this work, American historian and political scientist Robert Paxton and Canadian historian on the Holocaust Michael Marrus examine the anti-Jewish legislation of Vichy France which led to Jewish persecution, both official and unofficial. This work shows that the Holocaust was not only a problem for German Jews, but for Jews throughout Europe. There is even a section on Vichy concentration camps.
Stille, Alexander. Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism. New York: Picador, 2003.
Originally published in 1991, this work tracks the history of five Jewish families in Italy during the Holocaust. Some families remained in Italy under Mussolini, some were sent away, and many died. Benevolence and Betrayal explores the varied personal histories of Italian Jewish individuals and shows the cost of fascism in Italy for Jewish people.
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria’s Jews Survived the Holocaust. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Though Bulgaria was aligned with Nazi Germany, it did not eradicate its Jewish population like many of Germany’s allies did. In this work, Tzvetan Todorov explores why Bulgaria was different – and concludes that it very easily could have gone the other way, if any number of elements of Bulgarian culture and politics had been different.
Gender in the Interwar Period
Bridenthal, Renate, Atina Grossman, and Marion A. Kaplan. When Biology Became Destiny: Women in Weimar Germany. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1984.
This work, a collection of essays, contains works from different feminist scholars on women and women’s issues in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Topics include reproductive rights, family structure, and the intersection of class, race, and gender. Additionally, it addresses ways in which modern German women’s issues can be viewed in context of the past.
De Grazia, Victoria. How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
In this monograph, historian Victoria de Grazia uses memoirs, art, government documents, and other primary sources to examine the experience of Italian women under the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini. The role of women was defined under fascism, and de Grazia explores the effect this had on women and the making of contemporary Italian womanhood.
Koonz, Claudia. Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family, and Nazi Politics. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987.
For a long time, history was seen primarily through the eyes of men. Men wrote it and studied it, and focused the lens on other men. In this work Claudia Koonz, a historian of Nazi Germany, refocuses the lens on women. She writes about women’s roles in Nazi Germany, whether that of supporter or resistance. This book, written from a feminist perspective, has been the subject of much debate and scholarship, and is a must-read for those interested in women’s history and Nazi Germany.
Roberts, Mary Louise. Civilization Without Sexes: Reconstructing Gender in Postwar France, 1917-1927. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
The first world war turned Europe on its head, and with it the gender roles of French society. French people panicked – they believed that the lines of gender were becoming too blurred, and that they were becoming a “civilization without sexes.” This work, by Dr. Mary Louise Roberts, historian at the University of Wisconsin, examines women’s roles in French society, as well as concerns that developed after World War I surrounding these new roles and governmental efforts to maintain the “proper” role of women in France.
European Imperialism During the World Wars
Betts, Raymond F. Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890-1914. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961.
For a long time, the justification for colonization was that Western societies had the responsibility to “civilize” other cultures. This theory is known as “assimilation,” which meant that colonized peoples would learn and adjust to the French way of life. In the 20th century, however, this idea shifted to one of “association,” or the idea that colonized people would enter into a partnership with France. This work details the development of this new theory and the departure form the old one.
Brunschwig, Henri. French Colonialism, 1871-1914: Myths and Realities. France: Frederick A. Praeger, 1966.
Originally written in French, this work has become a classic in the field of French Colonial studies. In this work, Brunschwig argues that, rather than economic, French colonialism was nationalistic. The book provides an overall view of French Colonialism from 1871-1914, and is a good starting point for those interested in the topic.
Gamble, Harry. Contesting French West Africa: Battles over Schools and the Colonial Order, 1900-1950. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017.
In this, Wooster Professor of French and Francophone Studies Harry Gamble explores French empire in West Africa. He focuses especially on schools established by France. These schools, despite intending to support French rule, often became places where colonial “subjects” developed ideas that went against colonial rule. The work also details the integration efforts to combine inferior schools set up for West Africans with those for French colonists that occurred after World War II.
Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Mariner Books, 1998.
King Leopold II of Belgium committed a great deal of atrocious acts of genocide and theft in the Congo. In this work, American historian Adam Hochschild tells the story of King Leopold’s acts and their effects on the Congo, while also shining a light on those who bravely resisted these violent crimes and attempted to expose them to the rest of the world.
Wildenthal, Lora. German Women for Empire, 1884-1945. Duke University Press, 2001.
While most studies on Empire have focused on the male role, historian Lora Wildenthal instead looks at how women viewed empire and reinvented the image of empire to be more friendly to white women. Colonies were largely viewed, especially by men, to be male spaces were white women did not belong. Not to be excluded, women developed their own views, and saw colonial acquisitions as places where they could develop as women. Wildenthal focuses on German women and the organizations that they developed to support the presence of German women in the colonies.