Words: 1303
White is able to demonstrate how conditions in the Whimper Republic ultimately led to a shift in power that brought the National socialist German workers party to power. As stated earlier, even though White’s writing may have been dry sometimes, most everyone would be able to see the portrayals of life that White’s provides. Certain parts of the book are challenging to get through possibly because it reads like a textbook, however it is a historical writing and will read as such. Unlike many other European historical books written about this time period, are written to argue for or against a certain social issue at the time.
Yet White doesn’t seem to make an effort to establish any specific argument to the readers, this can be very helpful in getting objective information through to readers. White very clearly outlines causes and effects of events that had a significant impact on Whimper Society. White is able to successfully narrate about this society without going all over the place and keeping the reader on steady timeline. Whimper society was a very diverse one and thus, White had a very extensive space to cover.
Topics covered the period of inflation/hyperinflation, art, architecture, political differences, sexual culture, movies, various government policies, and many other things. The ones chosen above stood out as the ones to provide the largest range of subject matter versus other ones. A safe assumption to make would be that most people are not aware of how the German society was between World War I and World War II. For the people/readers that happen to fall into that category, most everything in this book will be new and probably come to a surprise to them as they read through.
As for those aware of Whimper society, this book will be a nice fresher and addition to their knowledge already. There is a vast majority Of adults along with students that are aware of hyperinflation that took place in Germany before World War II. But for a significant period of time, people really didn’t know the extent which hyperinflation affected the population and economy. One famous image of this period is people burning their money because there was basically no value behind their currency. The Germans decided that it would be better to burn their money to stay warm so that at least they could be warm and hungry.
There is the common misunderstanding that hyperinflation was in Germany up until Hitler came to power. However, White explains that hyperinflation was curbed when the Earmark officially replaced the Paperwork on November 15 1923 (White, 142). Prior to the establishment of the Reentering the Allies claimed that “Germany was deliberately manipulating its finances in order to dodge its reparations and war bond obligations, or to pay them off in devalued currency” (White 135). As a result, French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial center of Germany, the Our.
Allied Forces were determined to get their reparation money from Germany, however, Germany developed this policy of passive resistance which basically what this did was they refused to work in the presence of Allied Forces. With this resistance tactic, industry came to a halt more or less. The government began to supply workers with unemployment benefits and welfare to the big companies to make up for not being paid because of the resistance. Large sums of money were printed in order to give benefits or welfare, but this led to the sharp rise in prices in Germany (1923).
Increasingly large values were printed up to the point where a 100-trillion dollar note was printed, and at this point their currency had almost no value. This brief summary is another example of White being able to clearly state why an event happened, what was done to resolve such problem and lasting effects of that event. White avoids the issue of including political jargon that can leave people wondering more about those issues than it does answer questions. Most people, mainly students, can use information like the information White provides to help supplement papers ND further expand their knowledge.
Wittiest writing style uses a great deal of numbers and statistics. This has its advantages and disadvantages. With there being so many numbers being used, it is easy to learn precise information, which is excellent for the purpose of research papers, mainly economic papers. At the same time, this can lead the reader to felling overwhelmed with information and cause a lack of absorption of the material. This causes frequent rereading of certain sections in order to fully grasp the data. Eric White dedicates an entire chapter regarding the city of Berlin, “Walking he City’.
This title for this chapter is very fitting because it gives the reader essentially a first hand experience of Berlin during the Whimper Republic. White’s writing style is different than other parts of the book, which makes it easier to read and Stay involved in the reading. It may come off as puzzling initially because historical texts do not usually write directly to the reader, however it is much more pleasant to those who find the workings of urban life interesting. White starts off the tour at the heart of Berlin, Potsdam Plat. White states, “We will start our walking tour at Potsdam Plat… UT like any Berliner, for that matter, any tourist, we might get diverted by the sights and attractions around us. It may take a while, but we will be richly rewarded” (White, 42-43). Potsdam Plat is to Berlin as Time Square is to Manhattan to put it in comparison. This location is more or less the core of the city, having 5 major roads leading into the city, and 2, 753 vehicles an hour travel through it. This is yet another example of White’s statistical exactness. With such precision on statistics, it provides the reader the ability o visualize the quantity and abundance of transportation in Potsdam Plat.
White makes the reader fell as if you were sitting on a tour bus simply taking in all the sights the city has to offer. The tour goes from the wealthier sections like the Western Districts to the blue-collar class areas like Wedding. White gives a very vivid illustration for an individual to imagine the energetic nature of the city. All modern cities rely heavily on the progression of art and architecture. Both art and architecture are fields that need to be solved in a visual way and ultimately impact and reflect society as a whole.
White spends a significant time discussing both the art and architecture in this book and shows he has quite extensive knowledge in these two fields. White is able to use art and architecture as a visual representation of Whimper society. These sections show that the book is not just about government and politics during the Whimper society. White also discusses key movements of early modern art. More specifically about the Dadaists and the Bauhaus. Many art historians whose concentration lies in classical and Renaissance era art find it difficult to mind and significance in movements such as Dada.
White would be helpful to these readers since he justifies the Dad’s reasons for working the way they did. Dadaists considered themselves an anti-art movement based off of mainly nonsense and for many it may seem difficult to comprehend. White was able to provide strong summaries and impacts of the major art and architecture movements that originated post-World War I Germany. So in conclusion, White creates a very accurate and concise history of the Whimper Era. His text can just about answer any question one could have regarding this era.