Duke University Press
We Were the People: Voices from East Germany's Revolutionary Autumn of 1989
Key Metrics
- Dirk Philipsen
- Duke University Press
- Hardcover
- 9780822312826
- -
- -
- History > Europe - Germany
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The drama We Were the People recreates is remarkable for its richness and complexity. Here are citizens organizing despite threats of bloody crackdowns; party functionaries desperately trying to survive as time-honored political prerogatives crumble beneath their feet; an oppressed people discovering the possibilities of power and freedom, but also the sobering strangeness of new political realities. With their success, East Germans encountered the overpowering might of thie Western neighbor--and stand perplexed before the onslaught of real estate agents, glossy consumer ads, political professionalism--and the discovery that a lifetime of social experience has suddenly lost all usable context. They became, in the words of one participant, a people without biography.
Over all the recent events and unlikely turns recounted here, one thing remains paramount: the sweep of the initial democratic conception that animated the East German revolution. We Were the People brings this movement to life in all its drama and detail, and vividly recovers a historic moment that altered forever the shape of modern Europe.
Some Voices of the People
B�rbel Bohley/ Mother of the Revolution
Rainer Eppelmann/ Protestant Pastor
Klaus Kaden/ Church Emissary to the Opposition
Hans Modrow/ Former Communist Prime Minister
Ludwig Mehlhorn/ Opposition Theorist
Ingrid K�ppe/ Opposition Representative
Frank Eigenfeld/ New Forum
Harald Wagner/ Democracy Now
Sebastian Pflugbeil/ Democratic Strategist
East German Workers
Cornelia Matzke/ Independent Women's Alliance
Andr� Brie/ Party Vice-Chairman
Gerhard Ruden/ Environmental Activist
Werner Bramke/ Party Academic
Author Bio
Dirk Philipsen is an Associate Research Professor of economic history at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. He was educated in Germany and the U.S., and holds degrees in economics and history. His work and teaching is focused on sustainability and the history of capitalism.
He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Franklin Humanities Center at Duke, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. He has published on the history of modern capitalism, movements for social and economic justice, as well as race and race relations.
His first book, We Were the People, chronicles the collapse of communism in East Germany and was published by Duke University Press. Recently, he served as editor and contributor to a volume on Green Business, published by SAGE. His latest work, The Little Big Number – How GDP Came to Rule the World, And What to Do About It, was published May 2015 by Princeton University Press.
His current research focuses on alternative ways to think about the goals and direction of economic activity, away from indiscriminate growth and toward smart development; the role of markets; and sustainability as an ethical imperative of our time.
Source: dirkphilipsen.com
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