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A Short History of the Weimar Republic. By Colin Storer. New York: I. B. Taurus, 2013. Pp. vii + 237. Paper £12.99. ISBN 978-1780761763
In this concise and highly readable new book, Colin Storer sets himself the task of offering readers in one volume a short history of Weimar Germany and some of the key debates that have emerged out of recent historiography-no mean feat given the tens of thousands of books that have and continue to appear on Weimar and its contested legacy. But if there is a unifying theme that runs through these pages, it is Storer's effort to overturn elements of the "doom and gloom" orthodox historiography that so often viewed Weimar "as little more than a precursor to Hitler" (1). Rather, Storer highlights the real promise and achievements of the period characteristic of more recent scholarship. By situating his study in a comparative international framework, Storer is able to show that Germany was hardly alone in the challenges it faced, and the Republic far more durable than historians have given it credit for being.
Following a succinct survey of German history from the Thirty Years' War to the end of World War I, the core of the book is organized around four chapters devoted, in turn, to domestic politics, the economy, foreign policy, and Weimar culture. This core is bookended by chapters that examine the years of crisis that...