As the 20th century recedes, how should its history be written? The 1920s and 1930s were a time of paradox, of great conflict and contradiction. If those years were the crucible of a new metropolitan modernity and its possibilities, what were the forward-moving forces and ideas? What were their effects and where did they lead? The Modernist Wish provides a comprehensive, non-hierarchical and integrated history of Europe's early 20th century across the whole of the continent. Uniting social, cultural-intellectual, and political history alongside military-strategic and geopolitical dimensions, Geoff Eley examines the distinctiveness of early-20th century modernity. He draws out the exceptional character of the interwar years and their longer-run social and political fallout, based in the excitements of metropolitan living, the progressive achievements of an industrialized machine world, and the material possibilities for fashioning new forms of selfhood. In presenting a truly European history for our time, this study encompasses both the grand narratives of large-scale transformations, and the everyday realities of individual lived experiences.
Muu info
A comprehensive, integrated history of Europe's early 20th century, seen as the crucible of a new metropolitan modernity.
List of Figures; List of Maps; Acknowledgements; Preface: Europe after
War and Revolution, 19141939; Prelude: Europe on the Cusp of the Modern;
Part I. Europe after War and Revolution, 19141939;
1. A New Kind of War,
19141918: Mass Killing and its Effects;
2. A New King of War: Complete
Mobilization;
3. Socialist Challenge, Counter-Revolutionary Response,
19171923;
4. Territories, Nations, and States: Redrawing the Map of Europe,
19141923;
5. National Bodies, New Women, Damaged Men; Part II. European
Modernities: Cities, Selfhood, and the Future;
6. Modernity and its
Discontents: Estrangement and Possibility;
7. Popular Culture and
Intellectual Life: Entertainment, Improvement, Contestation;
8. Modernity and
its Discontents: Art, Literature, Aesthetics;
9. Intellectuals, Emancipation,
and the Self: Learning to be Modern;
10. Modernity and its Futures: Science,
Technology, Planning; Part III. Europe and its Others;
11. Europe in the
World, 19141940: Colony and Empire;
12. Empire at Home: Race and the Color
Line; Part IV. Towards Catastrophe;
13. Capitalism in Trouble, Europe in
Depression: Breakdown, 19291936;
14. Fascism, Strong States, and the
Challenge of Democracy: A Europe of Dictators, 19221939;
15. Crisis after
Crisis, 19311938;
16. Back to War, 1938-1939;
17. Conclusion: What is to
Come?; Suggestions for Further Reading: Index.
Geoff Eley is Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History Emeritus at the University of Michigan. His specialisms include modern European history; nationalism and fascism; the European Left; historiography; and social and cultural theory. Previous publications include Reshaping the German Right (1980); Forging Democracy (2002); A Crooked Line (2005); Nazism as Fascism (2013); and History Made Conscious (2023).
