Pleasure and Power in Nazi Germany

by P. Swett (Editor), C. Ross (Editor), F. d'Almeida (Editor)

Overview

Although we associate the Third Reich above all with suffering, pain and fear, pleasure played a central role in its social and cultural dynamics. This book explores the relationship between the rationing of pleasures as a means of political stabilization and the pressure on the Nazi regime to cater to popular cultural expectations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230271685
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	04/12/2011
Edition description:	2011
Pages:	307
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

FABRICE D'ALMEIDA Professor of Contemporary History, University Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2), France KARL CHRISTIAN FÜHRER Professor of History, University of Hamburg, Germany ELIZABETH HARVEY Professor of History, the University of Nottingham, UK THOMAS KÜHNE Strassler Professor of Holocaust History, Clark University, UK PATRICK MERZIGER Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, the Free University of Berlin, Germany DANIEL MÜHLENFELD Doctoral Student, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany DAVID PAN Associate Professor of German, the University of California, Irvine, USA MARK ROSEMAN Pat M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History, Indiana University, USA COREY ROSS Professor of Modern History, University of Birmingham, UK PAMELA E. SWETT Associate Professor of History, McMaster University, Canada S. JONATHAN WIESEN Associate Professor of Modern European History, Southern Illinois University, USA

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Pleasure and Power in Nazi Germany: An Introduction; P.E.Swett, C.Ross & F.d'Almeida PART I: CONSUMPTION AND THE PRIVILEGES OF PLEASURE Driving, Shopping and Smoking: The Society for Consumer Research and the Politics of Pleasure in Nazi Germany; S.J.Wiesen Selling Sexual Pleasure in 1930s Germany; P.E.Swett Luxury and Fashion under National Socialism; F.d'Almeida PART II: DISCIPLINE AND DISTRACTION: ENTERTAINMENTS AND THE AESTHETICS OF PLEASURE The Structure of Aesthetic Pleasure in the Nazi Reception of Goethe's Faust; D.Pan 'German Humour' in Books: The Attractiveness and Political Significance of Laughter during the Nazi Era; P.Merziger Pleasure, Practicality and Propaganda: Popular Magazines in Nazi Germany, 1933-39; K.C.Führer Radio, Film and Morale: Wartime Entertainment between Mobilization and Distraction; C.Ross PART III: THE PLEASURES OF COMMUNITY AND CONSENSUS Seeing the World: Photography, Photojournalism, and Visual Pleasure in the Third Reich; E.Harvey The Pleasures of Being a 'Political Soldier:' Nazi Functionaries and their Service to the 'Movement'; D.Mühlenfeld The Pleasure of Terror: Belonging through Genocide; T.Kühne The Pleasures of Opposition: Leisure, Solidarity and Resistance of a Life-reform Group; M.Roseman Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"Using "pleasure" as an analytical category, this book makes a significant contribution to the history of the Third Reich by giving us a new angle by which to approach it...Pleasure and Power in Nazi Germany is a clever, thought-provoking book that has much to teach anyone interested in the Third Reich or the histories of emotion and culture in general." - Mark B. Cole, H-German

From the Publisher