The ultimate Kaiserreich book

[Amallric]

Hi, so it looks like there is quite a lot of people here who are rather knowledgeable on the topic, so I figured I'd ask. What is considered as the "state of art" work on the German Empire as of now? I mean a general, global study that does not focus on a particular point, but gives the global overview of the subject, while still being rigorous and precise enough. Germany, 1870-1918, nothing more but nothing less. Is that Berghahn guy any good? What about Wehler? Or maybe there is a completely different authority in the field? German-only books are fine(though I would guess if it was really a success it would get a translation).

[Leviathan07]

You want to get "Das ruhelose Reich" by Michael Stürmer. Very good overview book, dense delivery of details, very rigorous, very precise, covering all the important areas. Chapters are organized by time periods and by general topic: Foreign politics, domestic politics, economics, social developments, war (ww1).

It was published in the "Die Deutschen und ihre Nation" series in the Siedler Verlag. All the books in that series are excellent, all written by renowned experts.

[Sarmatia1871]

There isn't really a "state of the art" book, because the period is unusually messy and controversial.

This book is really good however as an introduction to the various big issues around it, and gives lots of suggestions for further reading: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contesting-G...0332973&sr=8-1

[Amallric]

Many thanks. I think those two should be sufficient to start with.