Saving Nature Under Socialism: Transnational Environmentalism in East Germany, 1968 – 1990

Author:   Julia E. Ault (University of Utah)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781009001656


Pages:   276
Publication Date:   02 March 2023
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $56.90 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Saving Nature Under Socialism: Transnational Environmentalism in East Germany, 1968 – 1990


Add your own review!

Overview

When East Germany collapsed in 1989–1990, outside observers were shocked to learn the extent of environmental devastation that existed there. The communist dictatorship, however, had sought to confront environmental issues since at least the 1960s. Through an analysis of official and oppositional sources, Saving Nature Under Socialism complicates attitudes toward the environment in East Germany by tracing both domestic and transnational engagement with nature and pollution. The communist dictatorship limited opportunities for protest, so officials and activists looked abroad to countries such as Poland and West Germany for inspiration and support. Julia Ault outlines the evolution of environmental policy and protest in East Germany and shows how East Germans responded to local degradation as well as to an international moment of environmental reckoning in the 1970s and 1980s. The example of East Germany thus challenges and broadens our understanding of the 'greening' of post-war Europe, and illuminates a larger, central European understanding of connection across the Iron Curtain.

Full Product Details

Author:   Julia E. Ault (University of Utah)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.10cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.410kg
ISBN:  

9781009001656


ISBN 10:   1009001655
Pages:   276
Publication Date:   02 March 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Balancing Economy and Ecology: Building toward Environmental Protection, 1945–1970; 2. 'Socialist Environmentalism': Between Practice and Ideal, 1971–1982; 3. Church, Faith, and Nature: An Alternative Environmentalism, 1972–1983; 4. Intertwining Environmentalisms: Transboundary Pollution and Protest in Central Europe; 5. Coming out from behind the Cloud: Environmentalism after Chernobyl; 6. Growing Together? The Environment in the Collapse of Communism; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews

'A major contribution to the environmental history of socialist East Germany, showing the GDR as an ecological link, but also as an environmental hazard, to its neighbors. Ault traces the flow of pollution, people, ideas, and data through Central Europe, thereby highlighting the entanglements of environments and environmental activism during and after the Cold War.' Astrid M. Eckert, author of West Germany and the Iron Curtain 'Critical for any Europeanist, Saving Nature under Socialism uses environmentalism to demonstrate the importance of East German popular activism both with and against the state-as well as with and against grassroots politics across Cold War Europe. Julia Ault's book is an important achievement on many terrains, and should be widely read.' Belinda Davis, Rutgers University 'For some years, East German historiography has been escaping the tired and limiting perspectives soldered into place by the misguided triumphalism of the 1990s. Focusing on the GDR's last two decades, on the seemingly unpromising ground of environmentalism, Julia Ault further deepens our grasp of this misperceived state-socialist project and its boundaries.' Geoffrey Eley, University of Michigan


Author Information

Julia E. Ault is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of Utah.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

wl

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List