17 January 2017
My book: Winning the Peace: The British in Occupied Germany 1945-1948 is published this month by Bloomsbury Academic. It is an academic monograph and priced accordingly, which means that it will be bought mainly by university libraries and other institutions and read by researchers studying the period.
But if you are interested, you can read the contents, introduction and first chapter online, entirely free of charge. Follow the link at the end of this post.
And if you would like to read the whole book but cannot justify buying your own copy, please do request a copy from your local library.
Here are some extracts from what it says on the back cover:
‘Winning the Peace examines the aims and intentions of twelve important and influential individuals who worked for the British Military Government in occupied Germany during the first three years after the end of the Second World War…
Winning the Peace strikes a balance between earlier self-congratulatory accounts of the British occupation, and the later more critical historiography. It highlights the diversity of aims and personal backgrounds and in so doing explains some of the complexities and apparent contradictions in British occupation policy…
This book is an innovative study for those interested in the Allied occupation, the post-war history of Germany and the study of military occupation generally.’
Reviews:
‘Approaching the British occupation regime in Germany through a range of biographies sheds a new light on the occupation regime itself … Christopher Knowles argues convincingly that the positive contribution of these people to the remaking of Germany after the Second World War should be recognised.’ Stefan Berger, Director of the Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany.
‘Investigating the collective biography of twelve officers, it considerably extends our knowledge of British policies by highlighting the wide variety of often conflicting ideas and strategies within the military and civil administration of Germany.’ Michael Schaich, Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the German Historical Institute, London.
‘Chris Knowles’ multi-layered appraisal of the aims, intentions and achievements of the British occupation of Germany through his examination of the diverse views and experiences of a sample of British generals, civilian administrators and young junior military government officers not only uniquely exposes and deconstructs the constraints on the occupiers and their potential for agency but also makes a significant contribution to the new field of occupation studies.’ Rebecca Boehling, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA.
Winning the Peace: contents, introduction and first chapter
Order a copy from the publisher’s web site
From the table of contents it seems lie a good read, i hope its available in our local library.
Posted by: Grace | 09 January 2018 at 03:21 PM