Julia Sneeringer – författare

In November 1918, German women gained the right to vote, and female suffrage would forever change the landscape of German political life. Women now constituted the majority of voters, and political parties were forced to address them for the first time. Analyzing written and visual propaganda aimed at, and frequently produced by, women across the political spectrum - including the Communists and Social Democrats; liberal, Catholic and conservative parties; and the Nazis - Julia Sneeringer shows how various groups struggled to reconcile traditional assumption about women's interests with the changing face of the family and female economic activity. Through propaganda, political parties addressed themes such as motherhood, fashion, religion, and abortion. But as Sneeringer demonstrates, their efforts to win women's votes by emphasizing ""women's issues"" had only limited success. The debates about women in propaganda were symptomatic of larger anxieties that gripped Germany during this era of unrest, Sneeringer says. Though Weimar political culture was ahead of it time in forcing even the enemies of women's rights to concede a public role for women, this horizon of possibility narrowed sharply in the face of political instability, economic crises, and the growing spectre of fascism.

A Social History of Early Rock ‘n’ Roll in Germany explores the people and spaces of St. Pauli’s rock’n’roll scene in the 1960s. Starting in 1960, young British rockers were hired to entertain tourists in Hamburg’s red-light district around the Reeperbahn in the area of St. Pauli. German youths quickly joined in to experience the forbidden thrill of rock’n’roll, and used African American sounds to distance themselves from the old Nazi generation. In 1962 the Star Club opened and drew international attention for hosting some of the Beatles' most influential performances. In this book, Julia Sneeringer weaves together this story of youth culture with histories of sex and gender, popular culture, media, and subculture.By exploring the history of one locale in depth, Sneeringer offers a welcome contribution to the scholarly literature on space, place, sound and the city, and pays overdue attention to the impact that Hamburg had upon music and style. She is also careful to place performers such as The Beatles back into the social, spatial, and musical contexts that shaped them and their generation. This book reveals that transnational encounters between musicians, fans, entrepreneurs and businessmen in St. Pauli produced a musical style that provided emotional and physical liberation and challenged powerful forces of conservatism and conformity with effects that transformed the world for decades to come.

A Social History of Early Rock ‘n’ Roll in Germany explores the people and spaces of St. Pauli’s rock’n’roll scene in the 1960s. Starting in 1960, young British rockers were hired to entertain tourists in Hamburg’s red-light district around the Reeperbahn in the area of St. Pauli. German youths quickly joined in to experience the forbidden thrill of rock’n’roll, and used African American sounds to distance themselves from the old Nazi generation. In 1962 the Star Club opened and drew international attention for hosting some of the Beatles' most influential performances. In this book, Julia Sneeringer weaves together this story of youth culture with histories of sex and gender, popular culture, media, and subculture.By exploring the history of one locale in depth, Sneeringer offers a welcome contribution to the scholarly literature on space, place, sound and the city, and pays overdue attention to the impact that Hamburg had upon music and style. She is also careful to place performers such as The Beatles back into the social, spatial, and musical contexts that shaped them and their generation. This book reveals that transnational encounters between musicians, fans, entrepreneurs and businessmen in St. Pauli produced a musical style that provided emotional and physical liberation and challenged powerful forces of conservatism and conformity with effects that transformed the world for decades to come.

Julia Sneeringer’s book provides a concise overview of developments in the Federal Republic of Germany from the end of the Second World War and Germany’s division, to the unification of East and West Germany in 1990. Within the framework of key political and economic moments, it illuminates how West Germans experienced social, economic, and cultural change across four decades.Chronologically structured and supplemented with timelines, each chapter in the book presents the major themes, events and developments occurring during the period. A focused bibliography is also included to offer guidance on further reading. Among the notable topics covered are:· The redefining of German identity after Nazism· Democratization· The explosion of consumer culture· The protest movements of 1968· Changing gender and sexual roles· Immigration and multiculturalism· Pop culture· Environmentalism· Terrorism· The return of the right in politicsWest Germany in Focus is a peerless introduction to West Germany for anyone looking to understand the complexities of German history since 1945.