The German Forest Nature Identity and the Contestation of a National Symbol 1871-1914 by Jeffrey K. Wilson

The German Forest Nature Identity and the Contestation of a National Symbol 1871-1914 by Jeffrey K. Wilson

By: Jeffrey K. Wilson

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Print ISBN: 9781442686380, 1442686383

eText ISBN: 9781442686380, 1442686383

Edition: 1st

Copyright year: 2012

From the late eighteenth century, Germans increasingly identified the fate of their nation with that of their woodlands. A variety of groups soon mobilized the ‘German forest’ as a national symbol, though often in ways that suited their own social, economic, and political interests. The German Forest is the first book-length history of the development and contestation of the concept of ‘German’ woodlands.

Jeffrey K. Wilson challenges the dominant interpretation that German connections to nature were based in agrarian romanticism rather than efforts at modernization. He explores a variety of conflicts over the symbol — from demands on landowners for public access to woodlands, to state attempts to integrate ethnic Slavs into German culture through forestry, and radical nationalist visions of woodlands as a model for the German ‘race’. Through impressive primary and archival research, Wilson demonstrates that in addition to uniting Germans, the forest as a national symbol could also serve as a vehicle for protest and strife.

Additional ISBNs

9781487521677, 1487521677