Life after death2003
approaches to a cultural and social history during the 1940s and 1950s
by Richard Bessel
"This collection of essays offers a novel approach to thte cultural and social history of Europe after the Second World War. In a shift of perspective, it does not conceive of the impressive economic and political stability of the postwar era as a quasi-natural return to previous patterns of societal development but approaches it as an attempt to establish "normality" on the lingering memories of experienceing violence on a hitherto unprecedented scale. It views the relationship of the violence of the 1940s to the apparent "normality" and stability of the 1950s as a key to understanding the history of postwar Europe.
Although the history of postwar Germany naturally looms large in this collection, the essays deal with countries across Western and Central Europe, offer comparative...