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Peter von Zahn's Cold War Broadcasts to West Germany

Assessing America

Eli Nathans (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

XXI, 334 Seiten

2017 | 1st ed. 2017
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-50614-2 (ISBN)

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This book examines the pioneering radio broadcasts and television documentaries about the United States made in the 1950s by the influential West German journalist Peter von Zahn. Part intellectual biography, part analysis of significant debates in West Germany, part study of an intensive encounter with the United States, the book helps explain the transformation of postwar West Germany. As a soldier in the Wehrmacht in World War II, Zahn held the militantly elitist views typical of young men in Germany's educated middle class. He reconsidered these positions in his postwar broadcasts. At the same time he coldly assessed the capacity of the United States to win the Cold War. His broadcasts examined McCarthyism, the African-American civil rights movement, and numerous aspects of American culture and politics. Zahn's broadcasts were one important voice in West German debates about the defects and virtues of modern democratic societies and especially of the United States, debates whose intensity reflected recent German experiences with the failure of the Weimar Republic and with Nazism. Zahn's analyses of the United States remain startlingly relevant today.

Eli Nathans is Associate Professor of European History at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. He has previously published books on the history of German citizenship policies and the career of a senior official in the Nazi administration of justice.

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Part One: Propaganda and Journalism.- Chapter 2. Student and Soldier in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.- Chapter 3. Survival.- Chapter 4. Journalist at the Northwest German Radio Station.- Part Two: Networks and Contexts.- Chapter 5. Public Audiences and Official Networks.- Chapter 6. Critical Images of the United States in the Federal Republic.- Part Three: Peter von Zahn's America.- Chapter 7. Tradition and Modernity in American Culture and Society.- Chapter 8. American Public Opinion: Optimistic but often Ignorant.- Chapter 9. A Weak Executive, an Irresponsible Congress, and a Courageous Judiciary.- Chapter 10. From Understanding to Indignation: Zahn on American Racism and the Civil Rights Movement.- Part Four: Receptions.- Chapter 11. Audience Responses.- Chapter 12. A Difficult Return to West Germany 1964-2001.- Chapter 13. Conclusion.- Index.

"Eli Nathans's Peter von Zahn's Cold War Broadcasts to West Germany: Assessing America is still the first book that analyzes the life and work of Zahn as an influential intermediary between America and West Germany. ... The merit of this book is a case study of an outstanding journalist." (Frank Bösch, The American Historical Review, Vol. 124 (4), October, 2019)

“Eli Nathans’s Peter von Zahn’s Cold War Broadcasts to West Germany: Assessing America is still the first book that analyzes the life and work of Zahn as an influential intermediary between America and West Germany. … The merit of this book is a case study of an outstanding journalist.” (Frank Bösch, The American Historical Review, Vol. 124 (4), October, 2019)

Erscheinungsdatum	29.08.2017
Reihe/Serie	Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media
Zusatzinfo	XXI, 334 p. 3 illus.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 210 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
Schlagworte	Broadcasting • Cultural History • European History • Historiography • History • History of Germany and Central Europe • history of modern europe • History of the media • History of World War II and the Holocaust • media and communication • Media Studies • Nazi Germany • Peter von Zahn • Radio • Second World War • Social and Cultural History • Soviet Union • Television
ISBN-10	3-319-50614-5 / 3319506145
ISBN-13	978-3-319-50614-2 / 9783319506142
Zustand	Neuware