Time and power : visions of history in German politics, from the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich / Christopher Clark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Christopher, Author.

Series:

Lawrence Stone lectures.

The Lawrence Stone Lectures ; 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Germany--Politics and government.

Germany.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (311 pages).

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

From the author of the national bestseller The Sleepwalkers. How four leaders' understanding of time informed their use of state power. This groundbreaking book presents new perspectives on how the exercise of power is shaped by different notions of time. Acclaimed historian Christopher Clark draws on four key figures from German history-Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Prussia, Frederick the Great, Otto von Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler-to look at history through a temporal lens and ask how historical actors and their regimes embody unique conceptions of time. Inspired by the insights of Reinhart Koselleck and François Hartog, two pioneers of the "temporal turn" in historiography, Clark shows how Friedrich Wilhelm rejected the notion of continuity with the past, believing instead that a sovereign must liberate the state from the entanglements of tradition to choose freely among different possible futures. He demonstrates how Frederick II abandoned this paradigm for a neoclassical vision of history in which sovereign and state transcend time altogether, and how Bismarck believed that the statesman's duty was to preserve the timeless permanence of the state amid the torrent of historical change. Clark describes how Hitler did not seek to revolutionize history like Stalin and Mussolini, but instead sought to evade history altogether, emphasizing timeless racial archetypes and a prophetically foretold future. Elegantly written and boldly innovative, Time and Power takes readers from the Thirty Years' War to the fall of the Third Reich, revealing the connection between political power and the distinct temporalities of the leaders who wield it.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1. The History Machine

Chapter 2. The Historian King

Chapter 3: Boatman on the River of Time

Chapter 4. Time of the Nazis

Conclusion and Epilogue

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

9780691185989

0691185980

OCLC:

1062360737