Reformers, Critics, and the Paths of German Modernity

Modernity was an inescapable fact of life for the first generation to come of age in the German empire. Even the most extreme political opponents saw the chaotic transformation of all spheres of life in the wake of industrial capitalism as the central problem facing young men and women at the fin de siecle. This fresh look at Wilhelmine perceptions of modernity challenges both the traditional emphasis on anti-modernism as a peculiarly German response that led to the rise of national socialism, and the more recent post-Foucauldian studies on the pathologies of modernity, which point instead to an unreflective faith in science and efficiency on the part of German progressives. Shifting the focus away from radical extremes on either side, the author explores the more moderate agendas of hundreds of mainstream intellectuals and activists from diverse social backgrounds who sought to surmount the human costs of industrialisation without relinquishing its positive potential.