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Since the publication of Eliza May Butler's Tyranny of Greece over Germany in 1935, the obsession of the German educated elite with the ancient Greeks has become an accepted, if severely underanalyzed, cliché. In Down from Olympus, Suzanne Marchand attempts to come to grips with German Graecophilia, not as a private passion but as an institutionally generated and preserved cultural trope. The book argues that nineteenth-century philhellenes inherited both an elitist, normative aesthetics and an ascetic, scholarly ethos from their Romantic predecessors; German "neohumanists" promised to reconcile these intellectual commitments, and by so doing, to revitalize education and the arts. Focusing on the history of classical archaeology, Marchand shows how the injunction to imitate Greek art was made the basis for new, state-funded cultural institutions. Tracing interactions between scholars and policymakers that made possible grand-scale cultural feats like the acquisition of the Pergamum Altar, she underscores both the gains in specialized knowledge and the failures in social responsibility that were the distinctive products of German neohumanism.

This book discusses intellectual and institutional aspects of archaeology and philhellenism, giving extensive treatment to the history of prehistorical archaeology and German "orientalism." Marchand traces the history of the study, excavation, and exhibition of Greek art as a means to confront the social, cultural, and political consequences of the specialization of scholarship in the last two centuries. ... Read more

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Olympian!
This book should be read by everyone who has the least interest in how German Philhellenism grew from the late eighteenth century cultured bourgeois (Bildungsbuergertum) neohumanism into an unparalleled obsession for Hellas. Marchand writes beautifully, intelligently, and insightfully. Every page is worth reading over and over. I had to read it slowly because Marchand writes so wonderfully that every detail comes alive in her presentation. I thought I might miss something. She truly loves her subject matter and imparts that joy to her readers. I cannot recommend this work highly enough.

Starting with an overview of the idea of Philhellinism as embodied in neohumanism and the poetry of Schiller, she demonstrates how philology and archeology were developed in the same cradle of idealism. She traces the history of this development by drawing on peculiarly German cultural moments that English readers rarely comprehend because of language barriers. This is not just a study for students of German history. Marchand has made a particular aspect of German history and culture accsesible to those who cannot read German.

This book is great for students of cultural history, philosophy, sculpture, archeology, and philology (to name but a few who may benefit from her work). I recommend this book together with George S. Williamson's newly released The Longing for Myth in Germany which seems to fold nicely together and develop along similar lines.

This book should be on every scholar's bookshelf, no question about it! ... Read more

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Between 1914 and 1918, German anthropologists conducted their work in the midst of full-scale war. The discipline was relatively new in German academia when World War I broke out, and, as Andrew D. Evans reveals in this illuminating book, its development was profoundly altered by the conflict. As the war shaped the institutional, ideological, and physical environment for anthropological work, the discipline turned its back on its liberal roots and became a nationalist endeavor primarily concerned with scientific studies of race.

Combining intellectual and cultural history with the history of science, Anthropology at War examines both the origins and consequences of this shift. Evans locates its roots in the decision to allow scientists access to prisoner-of-war camps, which prompted them to focus their research on racial studies of the captives. Caught up in wartime nationalism, a new generation of anthropologists began to portray the country’s political enemies as racially different. After the war ended, the importance placed on racial conceptions and categories persisted, paving the way for the politicization of scientific inquiry in the years of the ascendancy of National Socialism.

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This superb survey of hunter-gatherer societies in SouthwestGermany presents an overview of the archaeological record for threeperiods- the Late Paleolithic, the Early Mesolithic, and theLate Mesolithic. Michael A. Jochim employs his rigorously materialistorientation to suggest certain possibilities about the generalorganization of settlements, subsistence, and social relations of thecultures in question. He also discusses the data within the context ofhuman events in western Europe during the same periods. The text isaccompanied by 115 illustrations ... Read more

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This is a great book for anyone who likes the stone ages
As a student under Dr. Jochim, I have taken his courses again and again.He is very interested in this region in these time periods.His book is no exception for his lust of this age in our history.If you are seeking tolearn what the Cro-Magnon man and early Homo sapien did to survive, thenthis is a must have.If you are reading this Dr., I am Miles Robertson andI want to say thanks for the many classes I have had with you. ... Read more

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Drawing on many recent excavations throughout Gaul and Germany, this generously illustrated bookco-published with the British Museumbrings a wealth of archaeological findings to bear upon a crucial period in Roman history. The Roman provinces of Gaul and Germany cover present-day France, Belgium, and the Rhineland, together with parts of Switzerland and the Netherlands. Distinguished by their rich Celtic and Germanic heritage, they formed an important part of the Roman Empire. In this first general book on the region in many years, Anthony King has interpreted the most recent research data available to reconstruct the Romanization of the provinces until its eventual decline. This book will be keenly welcomed by the archaeological tourist as well as by classicists. ... Read more

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What impact is there on the field to recognize that archaeology is a regular feature in daily life and popular culture? Based upon the study of England, Germany, Sweden and the USA, Cornelius Holtorfexamines the commonalities and peculiarities of media portrayal ofarchaeology in these countries, and the differences between media presentations and audience knowledge and attraction to the subject, In his normal engaging, populist style, Holtorf discusses the main strategies available to archaeologists in engaging with their popular representations. Possessors of a widely recognized, positively valued and well underpinned brand, archaeologists need to take more seriously the appeal of their work. ... Read more

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This study of post-medieval ceramic production and consumption in the Lower Rhineland is prefaced by a survey of previous work and approaches in the field. With the initiation of large-scale urban excavations in the Lower Rhineland during the 1980s, particularly in the town of Duisburg, an extensive sequence of pottery has been recovered dating from c .1400 to 1800, enabling archaeologists for the first time to re-examine traditional chronologies, attributions and socio-economic interpretations. This survey comprises 95 individual assemblages of pottery from sites excavated in Duisburg and from towns and rural sites in the region. (Studies in Contemporary and Historical Archaeology is a new series of edited and single-authored volumes intended to make available current work on the archaeology of the recent and contemporary past. The series brings together contributions from academic historical archaeologists, professional archaeologists and practitioners from cognate disciplines who are engaged with archaeological material and practices.) ... Read more

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"Peck's book takes a frank look at the diversity of Jewish experience in Germany sixty years after the end of the Holocaust and paints a lively picture of contrasts, conflicts, and cultures that shape a contemporary Germany seeking cosmopolitan status."-Karen Remmler, coeditor of Contemporary Jewish Writing in Germany: An Anthology"The definitive study of the state of Jewish life and culture in reunified Germany."-Sander Gilman, Weidenfeld Professor of European Comparative Literature, St. Anne's CollegeGermany today boasts the fastest growing population of Jews in Europe. The streets of Berlin abound with signs of a revival of Jewish culture, ranging from bagel shops to the sight of worshipers leaving synagogue on Saturday. With the new energy infused by Jewish immigration from Russia and changes in immigration and naturalization laws in general, Jeffrey M. Peck argues that we must now begin considering how Jews live in Germany rather than merely asking why they would choose to do so. In Being Jewish in the New Germany, Peck explores the diversity of contemporary Jewish life and the complex struggles within the community-and among Germans in general-over history, responsibility, culture, and identity. He provides a glimpse of an emerging, if conflicted, multicultural country and examines how the development of the European Community, globalization, and the post-9/11 political climate play out in this context. With sensitive, yet critical insight into the nation's political and social life, chapters explore issues such as the shifting ethnic/national makeup of the population, changes in political leadership, and American, Israeli, and European Jewish relations with the growing Jewish population in Germany.Jeffrey M. Peck is a professor in communication, culture, and technology at Georgetown University and a senior fellow in residence at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I DON'T BUY MUCH OF PECK'S BOOK
I've been to Germany myself, and the rosy picture Peck paints is quasi-delusional. Peck's writing seems to give the "true realities" of Germany a Guilded Shiny Superficial Coating, instead of the traditional imbedded tendencies of German culture through the centuries: " 'still' dreaming of completely ridding the world of Jews."Yes, it's better, but, give me a break. There is no new Germany. Germany WWI, WWII, is Germany, it's just in the blood; sorry to burst the bubble of "DELUSION."

Being Jewish in the New Germany
Being Jewish myself I have moved to Hamburg from London, where I lived for 35 years, I can wholeheartedly confirm whatJeffrey M. Peck writes in his book.His research has beendone very thoroughly. In his book he makes it quite clear thatit is the first time in human history that a people (country) which committed murders has admitted such crimes,has tried to get to terms with them and make sure that those crimes are never forgotten.

In Germany the government as well as private enterprise are producing films, talk shows at TV, and also theatre plays, dealing with the comitted crimes.Around the whole of Germany "Stolpersteine" (stones made out of brass) are cemented into roads, at places from where during the Hitler years, Jews have been deported to concentration camps or have comitted suicide.

He also explained in his book, that the new Jewish communities, which have been formed all over Germany after the Second World War, are different from those very integrated communities, which the Nazis destroyed.These new communities are to greater extent formed by Jews coming from Russia and Poland, while the murdered German Jews had been settled in the country at times for centruries. Jews in Germany are these days respected and so are their different communities.I will give this book as a present to friends of mine, some living in Europe while others live in the States, so that they will learn what Jewish life in Germany is like these days. ... Read more

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Chapters: Linear Pottery Culture. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 187. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 55004500 BC. The heaviest concentrations are on the middle Danube, the upper and middle Elbe, and the upper and middle Rhine. The culture represents a major impulse if not the advent of agriculture into this part of the world. The pottery after which it was named consists of simple cups, bowls, vases and jugs, without handles, but in a later phase with lugs or pierced lugs, bases and necks. They were obviously designed as kitchen dishes, or for the immediate or local transport of food and liquids. Important sites include Nitra in Slovakia; Bylany in the Czech Republic; Langweiler and Zwenkau in Germany; Brunn am Gebirge in Austria; Elsloo, Sittard, Köln-Lindenthal, Aldenhoven, Flomborn and Rixheim on the Rhine; Lautereck and Hienheim on the upper Danube; Rössen and Sonderhausen on the middle Elbe. Two variants of the early Linear Pottery Culture are recognized: Middle and late phases are also defined. In the middle phase, the Early Linear Pottery Culture intruded upon the Bug-Dniester culture and began to manufacture Musical note pottery. In the late phase, the Stroked Pottery Culture moved down the Vistula and Elbe. A number of cultures ultimately replaced the Linear Pottery culture over its range, but there is no one-to-one correspondence between its variants and the replacing cultures. The culture map instead is complex. Some of the successor cultures are the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillian, and Boian-Maritza. Linear pottery. "The vessels are oblated globes, cut off on the top and slightly flattened on the bottom suggestive of a gourd."Frank ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4407586 ... Read more

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THIS 24 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Story of the Gypsies, by Konrad Bercovici. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766130789. ... Read more

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This extensively researched empirical analysis of the GDR in the years 1971-1989 challenges current historical interpretations of GDR history. It focuses on four social groups-- youth, women, writers and Christians--to highlightthe stability of this socialist society until 1987. The strength of the regime is shown to have been based on a continuously negotiated process of give-and-take involving major parts of the population.
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This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Production of blades from prismatic cores is a relatively demanding technique that requires good-quality raw materials and long-term skill development. Various explanations for the widespread reliance on blades in the European Upper Paleolithic have been proposed, emphasizing the potential advantages of blade production for efficient reduction of a given volume of stone and for control over the shape and size of products, particularly cutting elements for use in composite tools. Technological changes from the Magdalenian through Early Mesolithic periods in southern Germany include a gradual decline in frequency of blades and consistency of blade production, but an increase in the degree of standardization of microlithic elements presumably used in composite tools. Based on a consideration of the changing social contexts in which tasks are defined and problems solved, it is proposed that concentrated production of blades on aggregation sites during the Magdalenian may facilitate the spread of skills needed for consistent blade production. Concentrated episodes of toolmaking are suggested to lead to more formalized task definition, while a wider variety of solutions to the problem of producing blanks for microlith production might flourish under conditions of highly dispersed toolmaking in the Early Mesolithic. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The different geographical subregions of southwest Germany yield characteristic raw materials which were used during the Mesolithic period. Unexpectedly, the different regional assemblages are all dominated by Upper Jurassic chert found in sources at distances of up to 50km from the sites. These distances lie within the range of a macro-move of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Investigations at the Mesolithic open air sites of Siebenlinden demonstrate a quite complex system of procurement. Mainly, complete nodules of Jurassic chert were transported from campsite to campsite. If needed, local material from the different geographical subregions was also added to the inventory of raw materials used. At times the amount of local material increases to more than 50% of the processed nodules, whereas at other times only a few local nodules were knapped. ... Read more