Americanization and Anti-americanism: The German Encounter with American Culture after 1945 / Edition 1

by Alexander Stephan

Overview

The ongoing discussions about globalization, American hegemony and September 11 and its aftermath have moved the debate about the export of American culture and cultural anti-Americanism to center stage of world politics. At such a time, it is crucial to understand the process of culture transfer and its effects on local societies and their attitudes toward the United States.

This volume presents Germany as a case study of the impact of American culture throughout a period characterized by a totalitarian system, two unusually destructive wars, massive ethnic cleansing, and economic disaster. Drawing on examples from history, culture studies, film, radio, and the arts, the authors explore the political and cultural parameters of Americanization and anti-Americanism, as reflected in the reception and rejection of American popular culture and, more generally, in European-American relations in the "American Century."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781571816733
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	11/01/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alexander Stephan was Professor of German, Ohio Eminent Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University, where he directed a project on American culture and anti-Americanism in Europe and the world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Alexander Stephan

PART I: THE POLITICS OF CULTURE

Chapter 1. Anti-Americanism and Americanization
Russell Berman

Chapter 2. Counter-Americanism and Critical Currents in West German Reconstruction 1945-1960: The German Lesson Confronts the American Way of Life
Michael Ermarth

Chapter 3. Saigon, Nuremberg, and the West: German Images of America in the Late 1960s
Bernd Greiner

PART II: POPULAR CULTURE

Chapter 4. Resisting Boogie-Woogie Culture, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art: German Highbrow Objections to the Import of "American" Forms of Culture, 1945-1965
Jost Hermand

Chapter 5. From Nightmare to Model? Why German Broadcasting Became Americanized
Kaspar Maase

Chapter 6. Learning from America: Reconstructing "Race" in Postwar Germany
Heide Fehrenbach

PART III: FILM

Chapter 7. Cinematic Americanization of the Holocaust in Germany: Whose Memory Is It?
David Bathrick

Chapter 8. Anti-Americanism and the Cold War: On the DEFA Berlin Films
Sabine Hake

Chapter 9. German Cinema Face to Face with Hollywood: Looking into a Two-Way Mirror
Thomas Elsaesser

PART IV: EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 10. Double Crossings: The Reciprocal Relationship between American and European Culture in the Twentieth Century
Richard Pells

Chapter 11. Anti-Americanism and Anti-Modernism in Europe: Old and Recent Versions
Rob Kroes

Chapter 12. California Blue: Americanization as Self-Americanization
Winfried Fluck

Chapter 13. Awkward Relations: American Perspectives on Europe, European Perspectives on America
Volker R. Berghahn

PART V: OUTLOOK

Chapter 14. Crisis or Cooperation? The Transatlantic Relationship at a Watershed
Karsten D. Voigt

Chapter 15. Germans and Americans: Understanding and Managing Change
Bowman H. Miller

Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

“This is a great book. Instead of simplifying the topic or getting lost in details, it presents a logical structure and a strong argument nuanced by local peculiarities… At best, an edited volume turns its reader overnight into an international expert in the field. Stephan's volume on the Americanization of as well as anti-Americanism in Europe since World War Two is such a book.”  ·  H-Net

“In many respects, all of the essays in this collection are individual gems…The various pieces contribute to a clearer understanding of the interactions between American culture and anti-Americanism in a European context. They also highlight the key roles played by the Vietnam War and Hollywood in both the acceptance and the rejection of American culture. Overall, this study is a very welcome addition to the literature on the American role in the wider process of globalization.”  ·  European History Quarterly

“Alexander Stephan’s well-edited collection of 15 essays dealing with anti-Americanism in a country where the U.S.’s standing was once high and has now dropped so sharply is indeed timely. The book may be helpful as well in searching for explanations of anti-Americanism in other countries, because it deals with so many aspects of this phenomenon, ranging from the political to the cultural.”  ·  German Quarterly

From the Publisher