GIs in Germany: The Social, Economic, Cultural, and Political History of the American Military Presence

Description

The fifteen essays in this volume offer a comprehensive look at the role of American military forces in Germany. The American military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany after WWII played an important role not just in the NATO military alliance but also in German-American relations as a whole. Around twenty-two-million US servicemen and their dependants have been stationed in Germany since WWII, and their presence has contributed to one of the few successful American attempts at democratic nation building in the twentieth century. In the social and cultural realm the GIs helped to Americanize Germany, and their own German experiences influenced the US civil rights movement and soldier radicalism. The US military presence also served as a bellwether for overall relations between the two countries.

Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr is Associate Professor of History at American International College. He is the author of Adenauer's Foreign Office: West German Diplomacy in the Shadow of the Third Reich (2012). Detlef Junker is Senior Distinguished Professor of History and founding director of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at Heidelberg University. He is the editor of the two-volume handbook The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945-1990 (2004).

'... worth a read not just for its account of the cultural, political, and social history that created the relationship between Germany and the United States today, but also to serve as a lesson for the pitfalls that our military is sure to face as it changes how forces are postured in the years to come.' Military Review 'This is a too-rare moment of genuine collaboration and cooperation between American and German scholars who bring together a range of perspectives on the American military presence in Germany ... the editors and contributors who patiently assembled this book should be very proud. Any scholar whose work touches on America's Cold War Army or on postwar German history will benefit from this volume.' Journal of Military History 'The authors have made valuable contributions to the nation's military history and to the study of international relations ... scholars of American military history, international relations, and international social history will certainly find this volume to be a valuable addition to their reading lists.' H-Net Reviews 'This diverse collection offers a nuanced assessment of whether and how the massive US military presence contributed to Americanization from above and below as well as to Americanism. It will be of interest to students of American military history, the Cold War, postwar West Germany, and the 1970s.' Mary Nolan, The Journal of American History