The Waterloo Centre for German Studies is pleased to announce the winner of its 2018 Book Prize: Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918-1965, written by Michael O'Sullivan and published by the University of Toronto Press.
The book tells the story of Therese Neumann, a Bavarian mystic who developed a cult following that lasted through the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the early years of the Federal Republic. By examining the revival of belief in Catholic miracles and its role in influencing many thinkers, politicians, and other actors, O'Sullivan is able to paint a nuanced and many-sided portrait of the local, religious, social and political history of twentieth-century Germany.
Other titles that earned a spot on this years short list include:
- German Science in the Age of Empire: Enterprise, Opportunity and the Schlagintweit Brothers by Moritz von Brescius
- Nation and Loyalty in a German-Polish Borderland: Upper Silesia, 1848–1960 by Brendan Karch
- The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914-1945 by Molly Jean Loberg
- Turkish Guest Workers in Germany: Hidden Lives and Contested Borders, 1960s to 1980s by Jennifer A. Miller
- Pursuing Whiteness in the Colonies. Private Memories from the Congo Free State and German East Africa (1884-1914) by Diana M. Natermann.
- Luxury and Modernism: Architecture and the Object in Germany 1900-1933 by Robin Schuldenfrei
- Turkish Germans in the Federal Republic of Germany. Immigration, Space, and Belonging, 1961–1990 by Sarah Thomsen Vierra
Read the interview with Michael O'Sullivan.
The Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize was established to recognize first-time authors whose scholarly work provides a substantial contribution to our understanding of any aspect of German-speaking society.