Germany’s Struggle for Modernity

“Jürgen Kocka's gamble has paid off: in a relatively short book, the historian synthesizes the essential points of historiography dedicated to the nineteenth century, while providing some personal reflections on each theme.”• Revue de l’Institut français d’histoire en Allemagne

“At first glance, you wouldn't believe it: that structural history can be read just as entertaining and fluid as an event story, just as exciting as a novella or a novel. But this book proves that it is possible.”• Taz

“Kocka succeeds in impressively carving out the Janus character of the 19th century on just 150 pages (the remaining 90 pages are appendices). For him, the defining characteristic of the era is the process of comprehensive modernization, which spared practically no area of the state, economy and society.”• Frankfurter Hefte

“The great strength of Kocka's approach is (still) the concentration on central terms and debates, which are worked out very clearly, as well as the concise and consistently topical, pointed summary of debates, each of which presents different positions fairly, and refers to their changes over time in order to then weigh them in a comprehensible way.”• Sehepunkte