Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany Hardcover - 2001

First line

For many American readers the German inflation of the 1920s may trigger much more recent personal recollections of life in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a hapless President Jimmy Carter tried to fight the frightening climb of the Consumer Price Index, which had reached more than 13 percent in 1979 (Nocera 176).

From the rear cover

"A landmark study. . . . Widdig's energetic account uses an interdisciplinary approach to reveal how economic anxieties were powerfully symptomatic of larger social and cultural issues."--Maria Tatar, author of Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany

"Bernd Widdig displays sharp intelligence and uncommon wit in this brilliant study of culture and inflation. Following the explosions in politics and culture that the inflation detonated from the end of World War I to the rise of the Nazis, this book is a bold and original meditation on modernity and money and the trauma of oblivion. It is a masterful, illuminating analysis."--Peter Fritzsche, author of Reading Berlin 1900

"Widdig's account of the cultural impact of the German hyperinflation adds an important dimension to the history of interwar Germany. He brings a unique perspective to the interaction between popular culture and political and economic decisions in the twentieth century. This fascinating book raises intriguing questions for economic and political historians."--Peter Temin, author of Lessons from the Great Depression