Berlin electropolis : shock, nerves, and German modernity / Andreas Killen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Killen, Andreas.

Series:

Weimar and now ; 38.

Weimar and now ; 38

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neurasthenia--Social aspects--Germany--Berlin--History.

Neurasthenia.

Mental fatigue--Social aspects--Germany--Berlin--History.

Mental fatigue.

Electrotherapeutics--Germany--Berlin--History.

Electrotherapeutics.

Electrification--Germany--Berlin--History.

Electrification.

Industrialization--Germany--Berlin--Psychological aspects.

Industrialization.

Social change--Germany--Berlin--Psychological aspects.

Social change.

Railroads--Employees--Mental health--Germany--Berlin.

Railroads.

Telephone operators--Mental health--Germany--Berlin.

Telephone operators.

Soldiers--Mental health--Germany--Berlin.

Soldiers.

Psychiatry--Germany--Berlin--History.

Psychiatry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (307 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Berlin Electropolis ties the German discourse on nervousness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to Berlin's transformation into a capital of the second industrial revolution. Focusing on three key groups-railway personnel, soldiers, and telephone operators-Andreas Killen traces the emergence in the 1880's and then later decline of the belief that modernity caused nervous illness. During this period, Killen explains, Berlin became arguably the most advanced metropolis in Europe. A host of changes, many associated with breakthroughs in technologies of transportation, communication, and leisure, combined to radically alter the shape and tempo of everyday life in Berlin. The resulting consciousness of accelerated social change and the shocks and afflictions that accompanied it found their consummate expression in the discourse about nervousness. Wonderfully researched and clearly written, this book offers a wealth of new insights into the nature of the modern metropolis, the psychological aftermath of World War I, and the operations of the German welfare state. Killen also explores cultural attitudes toward electricity, the evolution of psychiatric thought and practice, and the status of women workers in Germany's rapidly industrializing economy. Ultimately, he argues that the backlash against the welfare state that occurred during the late Weimar Republic brought about the final decoupling of modernity and nervous illness.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Berlin Electropolis

2. Electrotherapy and the Nervous Self in Nineteenth-Century Germany

3. Railway Accidents, Social Insurance, and the Pathogenesis of Mass Nervousness, 1889-1914

4. Electrotherapy and the Nervous Self during Wartime

5. Psychiatrists, Telephone Operators, and Traumatic Neurosis, 1900-1926

Conclusion

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612759321

9781282759329

1282759329

9780520931633

0520931637

9781598757811

1598757814

OCLC:

475950457