Bill Niven – författare

How objective are our history books? This addition to the Writing History series examines the critical role that memory plays in the writing of history.This book includes:- Essays from an international team of historians, bringing together analysis of forms of public history such as museums, exhibitions, memorials and speeches- Coverage of the ancient world to the present, on topics such as oral history and generational and collective memory- Two key case studies on Holocaust memorialisation and the memory of Communism

Facing the Nazi Past examines how the communist East viewed the events of these years very differently from West Germany during the Cold War. Following the unification of Germany, these contrasting memories of the Third Reich have contributed to a new perspective on this period of German history.Facing the Nazi Past explores the developments and debates that were symptomatic of this shift towards a more open confrontation with the past, such as:* the image of resistance to Hitler in united Germany* changes at concentration camp memorial sites since 1990* the commemoration of 8 May 1945 in 1995* how the revelations in Goldhagen's startling book Hitler's Willing Executioners triggered new discussion* the plans for the construction of a Holocaust Memorial.Anyone; students, scholars or interested readers, who are involved in the study of European history, will find this an enthralling and informative read.

A concise introduction to the process which led to the division of Germany in 1949, and its unification in 1990, this book also explores the economic, social and cultural divisions between and east and west, which still exist in post-unification Germany.Dividing and Uniting Germany covers all important aspects of the subject including:the role of the allies in the post-war division of the countrythe integration of West and East Germany into their respective blocsthe problems of integrating east and west after 1990Germany's Nazi and socialist past.

A concise introduction to the process which led to the division of Germany in 1949, and its unification in 1990, this book also explores the economic, social and cultural divisions between and east and west, which still exist in post-unification Germany.Dividing and Uniting Germany covers all important aspects of the subject including:the role of the allies in the post-war division of the countrythe integration of West and East Germany into their respective blocsthe problems of integrating east and west after 1990Germany's Nazi and socialist past.

Facing the Nazi Past examines how the communist East viewed the events of these years very differently from West Germany during the Cold War. Following the unification of Germany, these contrasting memories of the Third Reich have contributed to a new perspective on this period of German history.Facing the Nazi Past explores the developments and debates that were symptomatic of this shift towards a more open confrontation with the past, such as:* the image of resistance to Hitler in united Germany* changes at concentration camp memorial sites since 1990* the commemoration of 8 May 1945 in 1995* how the revelations in Goldhagen's startling book Hitler's Willing Executioners triggered new discussion* the plans for the construction of a Holocaust Memorial.Anyone; students, scholars or interested readers, who are involved in the study of European history, will find this an enthralling and informative read.

Christoph Hein is widely regarded as one of the most important writers to emerge from the former GDR. This volume contains an interview with Hein, a previously unpublished prose piece by him, an up-to-date biography and critical articles which examine individual texts in detail.

The collapse of the Iron Curtain, the renationalization of eastern Europe, and the simultaneous eastward expansion of the European Union have all impacted the way the past is remembered in today’s eastern Europe. At the same time, in recent years, the Europeanization of Holocaust memory and a growing sense of the need to stage a more “self-critical” memory has significantly changed the way in which western Europe commemorates and memorializes the past. The increasing dissatisfaction among scholars with the blanket, undifferentiated use of the term “collective memory” is evolving in new directions. This volume brings the tension into focus while addressing the state of memory theory itself.

Since the 1960s and certainly the 1980s, Germans have been confronting the Nazi past and the legacy of German perpetration. However, over recent years, Germany has become increasingly preoccupied with German suffering during the war and the post-war period. Arguably, it is no longer the Holocaust that takes centre-stage in the contemporary German culture of memory but the trauma caused by Allied bombing of German cities, and by the expulsion of millions of Germans from eastern Europe at the end of the war. This thought-provoking and lively collection of essays, by a team of leading scholars in the field, explores current memory trends in Germany. What has triggered this preoccupation with German suffering? How dangerous is it? Is it really new, or have the Germans always tended to empathise more with their own losses than with Nazi victims? Together these essays are an invaluable resource for students and teachers, and are essential reading for all with an interest in how Germans, in the new millennium, are facing up to their past.

The collapse of the Iron Curtain, the renationalization of eastern Europe, and the simultaneous eastward expansion of the European Union have all impacted the way the past is remembered in today's eastern Europe. At the same time, in recent years, the Europeanization of Holocaust memory and a growing sense of the need to stage a more "self-critical" memory has significantly changed the way in which western Europe commemorates and memorializes the past. The increasing dissatisfaction among scholars with the blanket, undifferentiated use of the term "collective memory" is evolving in new directions. This volume brings the tension into focus while addressing the state of memory theory itself.