Analyzes the men, ideas, and social conditions that precipitated the reorganization of the Christian church in the sixteenth century

The Reformation

Mosse, George L.

Religion & Spirituality

Harcourt School

While it is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject, Mosse does a good job of treating the lives and influences of the major players in the Reformation. He also shows that the Reformation happened as much for political reasons as for theological ones. For someone looking for a concise treatment of the subject, this is the book to read.

The Reformation (Berkshire Study in European History)

Thomson Learning

At the outbreak of the First World War, an entire generation of young men charged into battle for what they believed was a glorious cause. Over the next four years, that cause claimed the lives of some 13 million soldiers--more than twice the number killed in all the major wars from 1790 to 1914. But despite this devastating toll, the memory fostered by the belligerents was not of the grim reality of its trench warfare and battlefield carnage. Instead, the nations that fought commemorated the war's sacredness and the martyrdom of those who had died for the greater glory of the fatherland. The sanctification of war is the subject of this pioneering work by well-known European historian George L. Mosse. Fallen Soldiers offers a profound analysis of what he calls the Myth of the War Experience--a vision of war that masks its horror, consecrates its memory, and ultimately justifies its purpose. Beginning with the Napoleonic wars, Mosse traces the origins of this myth and its symbols, and examines the role of war volunteers in creating and perpetuating it. His book is likely to become one of the classic studies of modern war and the complex, often disturbing nature of human perception and memory.

Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars

History

Military

Oxford University Press

At the outbreak of the First World War, an entire generation of young men charged into battle for what they believed was a glorious cause. Over the next four years, that cause claimed the lives of some 13 million soldiers--more than twice the number killed in all the major wars from 1790 to 1914. But despite this devastating toll, the memory of the war was not, predominantly, of the grim reality of its trench warfare and battlefield carnage. What was most remembered by the war's participants was its sacredness and the martyrdom of those who had died for the greater glory of the fatherland. War, and the sanctification of it, is the subject of this pioneering work by well-known European historian George L. Mosse. Fallen Soldiers offers a profound analysis of what he calls the Myth of the War Experience--a vision of war that masks its horror, consecrates its memory, and ultimately justifies its purpose. Beginning with the Napoleonic wars, Mosse traces the origins of this myth and its symbols, and examines the role of war volunteers in creating and perpetuating it. But it was not until World War I, when Europeans confronted mass death on an unprecedented scale, that the myth gained its widest currency. Indeed, as Mosse makes clear, the need to find a higher meaning in the war became a national obsession. Focusing on Germany, with examples from England, France, and Italy, Mosse demonstrates how these nations--through memorials, monuments, and military cemeteries honoring the dead as martyrs--glorified the war and fostered a popular acceptance of it. He shows how the war was further promoted through a process of trivialization in which war toys and souvenirs, as well as postcards like those picturing the Easter Bunny on the Western Front, softened the war's image in the public mind. The Great War ended in 1918, but the Myth of the War Experience continued, achieving its most ruthless political effect in Germany in the interwar years. There the glorified notion of war played into the militant politics of the Nazi party, fueling the belligerent nationalism that led to World War II. But that cataclysm would ultimately shatter the myth, and in exploring the postwar years, Mosse reveals the extent to which the view of death in war, and war in general, was finally changed. In so doing, he completes what is likely to become one of the classic studies of modern war and the complex, often disturbing nature of human perception and memory.

The stereotype of masculinity embraces many qualities. To be manly one must be brave, daring, and cool under fire. A man must be physically strong--tough, skillful, dexterous. And one must also be honorable, honest, and courteous. A man must not complain. A man must not lose control of his emotions. A man must not cry. Even today, many men would accept these qualities as defining masculinity. But how did our idea of manliness evolve? How long have these qualities been the norm? And will they continue to be our basic image of man? In The Image of Man, noted historian George L. Mosse provides the first historical account of the masculine stereotype in modern Western culture, tracing the evolution of the idea of manliness to reveal how it came to embody physical beauty, courage, moral restraint, and a strong will. This stereotype, he finds, originated in the tumultuous changes of the eighteenth century, as Europe's dominant aristocrats grudgingly yielded to the rise of the professional, bureaucratic, and commercial middle classes. Mosse reveals how the new bourgeoisie, faced with a bewildering, rapidly industrialized world, latched onto the knightly ideal of chivalry. And he shows how the rise of universal conscription created a "soldierly man" as an ideal type. In England, the nineteenth century gave rise to an educational system that emphasized athletics, team sports, and physical strength, as did the gymnastics movement on the continent. At the same time, ideals of masculine beauty developed throughout the continent, intertwined with theories of art and personal comportment. And dueling experienced a renaissance, spreading throughout society, though tinged by each country's character (in France, many duels were fought, but few ended in death, whereas Germans evolved an almost bureaucratic set of rules governing such combats--participants used pistols rather than swords, leading to a high fatality rate). Indeed, in the nineteenth century, the idea of manliness appeared in so many areas of life and thought that it was accepted as a social constant, a permanent endowment granted by nature. Mosse shows, however, that it continued to evolve, particularly in contrast to stereotypes of women and unmanly men--Jews and homosexuals--all considered weak and fearful, unable to control their passions. Mosse concludes that socialism also made use of this stereotype, while in the twentieth century Fascism took this process to its extreme expression--mass political rallies glorified the fearless storm trooper as outsiders were stigmatized and persecuted. Today, the manly image has been challenged as never before. The old foils for masculine assertiveness have been eroded: the women's movement and gay and lesbian organizations have won new recognition, while anti-Semitic stereotypes have crumbled in the wake of the Holocaust and the rise of Israel. The long-standing idea of middle class respectability--one of the foundations of the masculine norm--has been cracked and battered. And yet, Mosse writes, manliness remains with us, a component of society that demands to be understood as we move into the future.

The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (Studies in the History of Sexuality)

World

What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be manly? How has our notion of masculinity changed over the years? In this book, noted historian George L. Mosse provides the first historical account of the masculine stereotype in modern Western culture, tracing the evolution of the idea of manliness to reveal how it came to embody physical beauty, courage, moral restraint, and a strong will. This stereotype, he finds, originated in the tumultuous changes of the eighteenth century, as Europe's dominant aristocrats grudgingly yielded to the rise of the professional, bureaucratic, and commercial middle classes. Mosse reveals how the new bourgeoisie, faced with a bewildering, rapidly industrialized world, latched onto the knightly ideal of chivalry. He also shows how the rise of universal conscription created a "soldierly man" as an ideal type. In bringing his examination up to the present, Mosse studies the key historical roles of the so-called "fairer sex" (women) and "unmanly men" (Jews and homosexuals) in defining and maintaining the male stereotype, and considers the possible erosion of that stereotype in our own time.

Americas

German Jews Beyond Judaism

Based on the author's Efroymson lectures at Hebrew Union College. Jews were emancipated at a time when high culture was becoming an integral part of German citizenship. German Jews felt a powerful urge to integrate, to find their Jewish substance in German culture and craft an identity as both Germans and Jews. George Mosse argues that they did this by adopting the concept of Bildung_the idea of intellectual and moral self-cultivation_and combining it with key Enlightenment ideas such as optimism about human potential, individualism and autonomy, and a connection between knowledge and morality through aesthetics. Personal friendships could be devoted to common pursuit of Bildung and become a means of overcoming differences, becoming a means for integration into German society. Mosse traces how Jewish artists, writers, and thinkers actively sought to participate in German culture and communicate these ideals through popular culture, scholarship, and political activity. From the historical biographies, novels, and short stories of Stefan Zweig and Emil Ludwig; to the psychoanalysis of Freud, which sought to subject irrationality to reason; to the revolutionary thought of Walter Benjamin_Jews sought to influence a mass political culture that was fast drifting into irrationality. As individualism was subsumed into nationalism, and eventually the German political right's racist version of nationalism, German-Jewish dialogue became more difficult. Jews remained idealistic as German society became less rational, their ideas corresponded less and less to the realities of German life, and they drifted out of the mainstream into an intellectual isolation. Yet out of this German-Jewish dialogue, what had once been part of German culture became a central Jewish heritage.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Indiana Univ. Pr

Jews were emancipated at a time when high culture was becoming an integral part of German citizenship. German Jews felt a powerful urge to integrate, to find their Jewish substance in German culture and craft an identity as both Germans and Jews. In this reprint edition, based on the 1983 Efroymson Memorial Lectures given at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, George Mosse argues that they did this by adopting the concept of Bildungthe idea of intellectual and moral self-cultivationand combining it with key Enlightenment ideas such as optimism about human potential, individualism and autonomy, and a connection between knowledge and morality through aesthetics. Personal friendships could be devoted to common pursuit of Bildung and become a means of overcoming differences, becoming a means for integration into German society.                 Mosse traces how Jewish artists, writers, and thinkers actively sought to participate in German culture and communicate these ideals through popular culture, scholarship, and political activity. From the historical biographies, novels, and short stories of Stefan Zweig and Emil Ludwig; to the psychoanalysis of Freud, which sought to subject irrationality to reason; to the revolutionary thought of Walter BenjaminJews sought to influence a mass political culture that was fast drifting into irrationality. As individualism was subsumed into nationalism, and eventually the German political right’s racist version of nationalism, German-Jewish dialogue became more difficult. Jews remained idealistic as German society became less rational, their ideas corresponded less and less to the realities of German life, and they drifted out of the mainstream into an intellectual isolation.                 Yet out of this German-Jewish dialogue, what had once been part of German culture became a central Jewish heritage. The ideal of cultivating a personal identity beyond religion and nationality, the liberal outlook on society and politics, and the desire to transcend history by stressing what united rather than divided individuals and nations infiltrated Jewish life became an inspiration for many men and women searching to humanize their society and their own lives. Mosse’s lectures trace the emergence of a form of Jewishness which resisted cultural ghettoization in favor of the pursuit of that which is universally human.          

A textbook exploring racism in European history.

Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism

Europe

Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe

Self-Help

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mosse, George L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Mosse, George L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mosse, George L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Reformation

The Reformation (Berkshire Study in European History)

Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars

Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars

The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (Studies in the History of Sexuality)

The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity (Studies in the History of Sexuality)

German Jews Beyond Judaism

German Jews Beyond Judaism

Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism

Nationalism and Sexuality: Middle-Class Morality and Sexual Norms in Modern Europe