James (Jim) Retallack

 

Professor of History and German Studies

 

On sabbatical until July 2012

 

 

Here is information about my …

Contact

james.retallack (at) utoronto.ca

·        General Background

History office:

Department of History, Sidney Smith Hall

·        Teaching Interests

(shared)

100 St. George Street, Rm. 2084

·        Current Research Interests

 

Toronto, ON, Canada  M5S 3G3

·        Graduate Supervisions

phone:

416-946-0976

·         

office hours:

By appointment only, while on sabbatical

·        Books

 

 

·        Articles and Book Chapters

Munk office:

Munk School of Global Affairs

·        Invited Lectures, Commentaries

(new)

Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

·        Conferences and Symposia

 

1 Devonshire Place, Rm. 120 North

·        Links

 

Toronto, ON  M5S 3K7

·        Other Professional Activities

phone:

(416) 946-8937

 

home page:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~retallac/

 

 

General Background

 

After graduating from Trent University in 1978 I studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and received my D.Phil. in 1983. Thereafter I held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University; I also taught courses at the University of California – Santa Cruz. From 1985-87 I was a Mactaggart Fellow in the History Department at the University of Alberta. I joined the History Department at the University of Toronto in 1987 and served as Chair of the German Department from 1999 to 2002.

 

I teach undergraduate and graduate courses, and supervise Ph.D. field preparations and dissertations, in German and European history from 1770 to 1945. My research has been assisted by grants and other awards from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the TransCoop Program, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Jackman Humanties Institute at the University of Toronto, and the SSHRC of Canada. In 1993-4 I spent a year with my family at the Free University Berlin as a Humboldt Research Fellow and Visiting Professor in the Political Science department. I also held a Visiting Professorship in History at the University of Göttingen in 2002-3 when I was awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize by the Humboldt Foundation. I became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2011.

 

I have organized a number of international conferences at the University of Toronto and elsewhere. I sit on the Editorial Advisory Board of German History, the journal of the German History Society. I also serve as General Editor of a series published by Oxford University Press, Oxford Studies in Modern European History.

 

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Teaching Interests and Courses Offered

 

  • Modern Europe, 1770-1945
  • Modern Germany, 1770-1945
  • Imperial Germany, 1871-1918

 

  • Germany from Frederick the Great to the First World War, 1770-1918  (HIS 330H)
  • Telling Lies about Hitler: Frauds and Famous Feuds among German Historians  (HIS 437H)
  • Maps and History  (HIS 440H)
  • Imperial Germany, 1871-1918  (HIS 1275H, graduate seminar)

 

  • The First World War: Germans and Others (graduate seminar, in development)
  • Antisemitism in Germany from the Enlightenment to Mein Kampf  (graduate seminar, in development)

 

 

Current Research Interests

 

My research interests include German regional history, nationalism, antisemitism, electoral politics, and historiography. I am currently nearing completion of a study of elections and political culture in Imperial Germany, focusing on its third-largest federal state, the Kingdom of Saxony – a territory that lay behind the Iron Curtain until 1989. I am collaborating with Robert Beachy on a study of Saxony under Prussian occupation during the Seven Years’ War, the Napoleonic Wars, and the German Civil War of 1866. The working titles of these projects are:

 

  • Red Saxony: Election Battles and the Specter of Democracy in Germany, 1860-1918. Under peer review by Oxford University Press. In progress (2013).

 

  • German Civil Wars:  Nation-Building and Historical Memory, 1756-1914, by Robert Beachy and James Retallack. Under contract to Oxford University Press. In progress (2014).

 

 

Graduate Supervisions

 

I cherish many types of collaboration with MA and PhD students. As well as supervising research projects and comprehensive field preparations, I have worked with most of the students listed below in organizing workshops, symposia, and conferences, preparing monographs and co-edited volumes for publication, and conducting field research in German archives.

 

 

Current PhD Dissertation Supervisions  (primary supervisions only)

·    Anthony Cantor, “Our Conservatories? Music Education, Social Identities, and Cultural Politics in Germany and Austria, 1840-1933” (winner of the History Department Teaching Assistant of the Year Award, 2011)

·    Evan Dokos, “German Education and Gymnasium Schoolbooks in the Nineteenth Century”

·    Geoff Hamm, “British Intelligence and the Ottoman Empire: Strategy, Diplomacy, and Empire, 1898-1918”

·    Marc-André Dufour, “Germany’s Destiny: Political and Military Conceptions of Germany’s Future, 1896-1925”

·    Gavin Wiens, “The Influence of German Federalism on Army Reforms before the First World War”

 

 

Current PhD Dissertation Committee Membership

·    Anthony Cantor, Rebecca Carter-Chand, Evan Dokos, Geoff Hamm, Bjoern Hofmeister (Georgetown), Peter Mersereau

 

 

Postdoctoral Mentorships

 

·    Stefan Grüner (Augsburg), Feodor-Lynen Research Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2003-05)

 

·    Thomas Adam (Leipzig), Feodor-Lynen Research Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 1999-2001)

 

·    William Wilson (Peterborough), Postdoctoral Fellow (SSHRC of Canada, 1994-95)

 

 

Completed PhD Dissertations Supervised

 

·     Deborah Neill, “Transnationalism in the Colonies: Cooperation, Rivalry, and Race in German and French Tropical Medicine, 1880-1930,” Diss. 2005 (2006 winner of the Canadian Historical Association’s John Bullen prize for the Best Dissertation written at a Canadian university in 2005), forthcoming as Networks in Tropical Medicine: European Doctors, Transnational Contacts and African Colonialism, 1890-1930 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011) (Currently: Assistant Professor of History, York University, Toronto).

 

·     Lisa M. Todd, “Sexual Treason: State Surveillance of Infidelity and Immorality in World War I Germany,” Diss. 2005. (Currently: Assistant Professor of History, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.)

 

·     Erwin D. Fink, “Region and Nation in Early Imperial Germany: Transformations of Popular Allegiances and Political Culture in the Period of Nation Building,” Diss. 2004. (Currently: state-certified translator and owner/operator, TransMEDIA Translations.)

 

·     Richard Steigmann-Gall, “‘The Holy Reich’: Religious Dimensions of Nazi Ideology, 1919-1945,” Diss. 1999, published as The Holy Reich. Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003). (Currently: tenured Associate Professor of History and Director, Jewish Studies Program, Kent State University.)

 

·     Marline Otte, “Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890-1930,” Diss. 1999, published as Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890-1933 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006). (Currently: tenured Associate Professor of History and Sizeler Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Tulane University.)

 

·     Marven H. Krug, “Civil Liberties in Imperial Germany,” Diss. 1995 (1996 winner of the Canadian Historical Association’s John Bullen prize for the Best Dissertation written at a Canadian University in 1995). (Currently: Director of Product, Scripps Networks Interactive, New York.)

 

·     Thomas M. Bredohl, “Parishioners, Priests and Politicians: The Centre Party in the Rhineland, 1890-1914,” Diss. 1995, published as: Class and Religious Identity: The Rhenish Center Party in Wilhelmine Germany (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2000).  (Currently: tenured Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Students, University of Regina.)

 

 

Publications

A.  Books

 

The list below includes a number of multi-authored volumes, many of which have arisen from international conferences held at the University of Toronto. Those conferences were generously supported by the SSHRC of Canada, the German Academic Exchange Service, the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, the University of Toronto, and other agencies. I am deeply indebted to my graduate students, co-editors, and research assistants, without whom none of these collaborative volumes would have seen the light of day.

 

 

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·   Imperial Germany 1871-1918. (Short Oxford History of Germany), ed. James Retallack. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Cloth and paperback. 2008. Pp. xv, 328. (UK) (US) (Canada) (Abstract and Table of Contents) (Opinion) (Dustjacket)

 

·   Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-Speaking Central Europe, 1860-1930, ed. David Blackbourn and James Retallack (German and European Studies). Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 2007. Pp. vii, 268.  (20% Discount Flyer) (Opinion) (Dustjacket)

 

·   Forging an Empire: Bismarckian Germany (1866-1890) / Reichsgründung: Bismarcks Deutschland (1866-1890), ed. James Retallack. Published online in English and German as Volume 4 of a 10-volume project, German History in Documents and Images / Deutsche Geschichte in Dokumenten und Bildern. German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, 2007.

 

·   The German Right, 1860-1920: Political Limits of the Authoritarian Imagination (German and European Studies). Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press. Cloth and paperback 2006. Pp. xiv, 430, 30 halftones.  (20% Discount Flyer) (Cover) (Opinion) (Search Inside this Book)

 

·   Wilhelminism and Its Legacies: German Modernities, Imperialism, and the Meanings of Reform, 1890-1930 (Essays for Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann), ed. Geoff Eley and James Retallack. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. Cloth 2003, pb. 2004. Pp. x, 269.  (Abstract) (Opinion) (Cover)

 

·   Zwischen Markt und Staat. Stifter und Stiftungen im transatlantischen Vergleich [Between Market and State:  Philanthropists and Foundations in Transatlantic Comparison], ed. Thomas Adam and James Retallack (Special Double Issue of Comparativ 11 [2001], nos. 5-6). Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2001. Pp. 190.

 

·   Sachsen in Deutschland. Politik, Kultur und Gesellschaft 1830-1918, ed. James Retallack (Studien zur Regionalgeschichte, Bd. 14) [Saxony in Germany:  Politics, Culture, and Society, 1830-1918]. Bielefeld and Gütersloh: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2000. Co-published Dresden: Sächsische Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 2000. Pp. 292. Forthcoming in an on-line edition. (Abstract) (Opinion) (Cover)

 

·   Saxony in German History: Culture, Society, and Politics, 1830-1933, ed. James Retallack (Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000. Pp. xxi, 392.  (Abstract) (Opinion) (Dustjacket)

 

·   Saxon Signposts, ed. James Retallack (Special Issue of German History 17, no. 4, 1999).  London: Edward Arnold Inc., 1999.  Pp. i, 87.  (Abstract)

 

·   Germany in the Age of Kaiser Wilhelm II  (Studies in European History). Basingstoke, London: Macmillan Press Ltd. (now Palgrave Macmillan), 1996. Co-published New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. Pp. xvi, 133. Chinese edition announced for 2012. (Abstract)  (Opinion) (Cover)

 

·   Modernisierung und Region im wilhelminischen Deutschland:  Wahlen, Wahlrecht und Politische Kultur. [Modernization and Region in Wilhelmine Germany:  Elections, Suffrage, and Political Culture], ed. Simone Lässig, Karl Heinrich Pohl, and James Retallack. Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 1995; 2nd rev. ed. 1998. Co-published Dresden: Sächsische Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 1995, 1998. Pp. 180.  (Abstract) (Opinion) (Cover)

 

·   Between Reform, Reaction, and Resistance. Studies in the History of German Conservatism from 1789 to 1945, ed. Larry Eugene Jones and James Retallack.  Oxford and Providence, RI: Berg Publishers, Inc. 1993.  Pp. vii, 530.  (Opinion) (Cover)

 

·   Elections, Mass Politics, and Social Change in Modern Germany:  New Perspectives, ed. Larry Eugene Jones and James Retallack. (Publications of the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC). New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, cloth 1992, pb. 2002.  Pp. xiii, 418.  (Abstract) (Opinion) (Dustjacket) (Look inside: Table of Contents and Introduction)

 

·   Notables of the Right. The Conservative Party and Political Mobilization in Germany, 1876-1918. London and Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988.  Pp. xvi, 302.  (Abstract) (Opinion) (Dustjacket)

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Publications

B.  Essays in Refereed Journals and Multi-Authored Collections

 

·    Review Article, “‘The vessel of the Confederation is then once again afloat’: British Envoys to Germany, 1815-1866,” commissioned for German History, publication planned for 2012. In progress.

 

·    Discussion, “A New Internet Resource: German History in Documents and Images, 1500-2006,” co-authored with Kelly McCullough, commissioned for Central European History, publication planned for 2012. In progress.

 

·    Forum participant, “The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History,” commissioned for German History, publication planned for early 2012. In progress.

 

·     “‘To My Loyal Saxons!’ King Johann in Exile, 1866,” in Monarchy and Exile: The Politics of Legitimacy from Marie de Médici to Wilhelm II, ed. Torsten Riotte and Philipp Mansel. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp. 279-304.

 

·    “The Authoritarian State and the Political Mass Market,” in Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives, ed. Sven Oliver Müller und Cornelius Torp. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011, pp. 83-96.

 

·    “Bismarck, Engels, and The Role of Force in History. Friedrich Engels, Die Rolle der Gewalt in der Geschichte,” in Gewalt und Gesellschaft. Klassiker modernen Denkens neu gelesen, ed. Uffa Jensen, Habbo Knoch, Daniel Morat, Miriam Rürup, Göttingen: Wallstein, 2011, pp. 47-56.

 

·    “Obrigkeitsstaat und politischer Massenmarkt” [Authoritarian State and Political Mass Market], in Das Deutsche Kaiserreich in der Kontroverse, ed. Sven Oliver Müller and Cornelius Torp (Göttingen, 2009), pp. 121-135.

 

·    “Introduction,” in Imperial Germany 1871-1918, ed. Retallack (2008), pp. 1-17.

 

·    “Looking Forward,” in Imperial Germany 1871-1918, ed. Retallack (2008), pp. 264-275.

 

·    “Introduction” (coauthored with David Blackbourn), in Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place, ed. Blackbourn and Retallack (2007), pp. 3-35.

 

·    “‘Native Son’: Julian Hawthorne’s Saxon Studies,” in Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place, ed. Blackbourn and Retallack (2007), pp. 76-98.

 

·    “Zwei Vertreter des preußischen Konservatismus im Spiegel ihres Briefwechsels: Die Heydebrand-Westarp-Korrespondenz” [Two Prussian Conservatives Mirrored in their Correspondence: The Heydebrand-Westarp Letters], in “Ich bin der letzte Preuße.” Der politische Lebensweg des konservativen Politikers Kuno Graf von Westarp  [“I am the last Prussian.” The Political Career of the Conservative Politician Count Kuno von Westarp], ed. Larry Eugene Jones and Wolfram Pyta (Stuttgarter Historische Forschungen) (Cologne, Weimar, Vienna, 2006), pp. 33-60.

 

·    “‘Something Magical in the Name of Prussia...’ British Perceptions of German Nation Building in the 1860s,” in Germany’s Two Unifications: Anticipations, Experiences, Responses (New Perspectives in German Studies), ed. Ronald Speirs and John Breuilly (Basingstoke and New York, 2005), pp. 139-154.

 

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Invited Lectures, Conference Papers, Commentaries

 

·    Invited lecture, “Voters without Democracy: Elections in Imperial Germany,” in the lecture series “Get Out the Vote! Mobilization, Media, and Money,” German Historical Institute, Washington DC, 12 April 2012.

 

·    Principal session organizer, “Society and Democracy in Germany: Why Dahrendorf Still Matters,” and paper giver, “Democratization and German Society: Why the Fluchtpunkt of 1933 Still Matters,” German Studies Association, Annual Meeting, Louisville, 24 September 2011.

 

·    Invited lecture, “Democracy in Disappearing Ink. Suffrage Reform as Coup d’Etat: Germany in the 1890s,” presented at the Max Kade Center for European and German Studies, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 15 April 2011.

 

·    Invited seminar, “The German Right: Personal and Historiographical Reflections,” Department of History, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 15 April 2011.

 

·    Invited seminar, “German Antisemitism, from the Nineteenth Century to the Visual Turn,” Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, to be presented 17 March 2011.

 

·    Invited speaker (with H.W. Smith, Vanderbilt), “Continuities in German History: A Public Discussion,” Department of History and Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, York University, Toronto, 11 February 2011.

 

·    Roundtable Organizer and Discussant, “German History in Documents and Images, 1500-2006: A New Online Resource,” reporting on “Forging an Empire: Bismarckian Germany, 1866-1890” (Vol. 4),

·      at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, San Diego, 7-10 January 2010, and

·      at the Annual Meeting of the German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., 8-11 October 2009.

 

·    “German Civil Wars: Nationhood, Memory, and the ‘Traumas’ of Defeat,” at the conference “Moving On: Memory and Trauma in History,” Tulane University, New Orleans, 21-24 October 2009.

 

·    Roundtable Participant, “In Honor of Roger Chickering (3): The Total History of Total War, A Book Discussion,” at the Annual Meeting of the German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., 8-11 October 2009.

 

·    “Caged Bird of Paradise: King Johann of Saxony during the German Civil War of 1866,” paper presented to the Graduate-Faculty Colloquium, Department of History, University of Toronto, 1 October 2008.

 

·    “Obrigkeitsstaat und politischer Massenmarkt: Don’t Fence Me In” [Authoritarian State and Political Mass Market: Don’t Fence Me In], invited paper presented at the conference “Das Deutsche Kaiserreich in der Kontroverse. Probleme und Perspektiven” [The German Kaiserreich under Debate: Problems and Perspectives], Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, 11-13 January 2007.

 

·    Invited Roundtable Discussant at the conference “Wilhelmine Germany and Edwardian Britain – Cultural Contacts and Transfers,” University College, Oxford University, 23-24 March 2006.

 

·   “Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Integrating the Old Conservative Party into the New DNVP, 1918-1920,” paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the German Studies Association, Milwaukee, 29 September - 2 October 2005.

 

·   “When Localism Goes Bad: Julian Hawthorne’s Saxon Studies,” paper presented at the conference “Localism, Landscape, and Hybrid Identities in Imperial Germany,” Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 12-14 May 2005.

 

·    Keynote Address, “Paradigmatic Super-Weapons? Demagogy, Populism, and Proto-Fascism in German Historical Writing,” delivered at the first Annual American-Canadian Conference in German and European History, Canisius College, Buffalo, 22-23 April 2005.

 

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Conferences, Symposia, Workshops Organized

 

·   Co-convener (with Robert Beachy), “Civil Wars, Nation-Building, and Historical Memory in Global Perspective: Problems of Interpretation,” a workshop in the Department of History, University of Toronto, 8 April 2011.

 

·   Co-convener (with David Blackbourn), “Localism, Landscape, and Hybrid Identities in Imperial Germany,” a conference at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 12-14 May 2005. Conference proceedings published as Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place, ed. David Blackbourn and James Retallack (2007).

 

·   Principal Organizer, “Making Germany: Nationalist Thought and Public Culture in the Nineteenth Century,” a symposium at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 16 April 2004.

 

·   Principal Organizer, “Local History as Total History,” a workshop at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 25 February 2002. Conference Report by Deborah Neill and Lisa M. Todd in German History 20, no. 3 (July 2002): 373-78.

 

·   Co-convener (with Thomas Adam, Eckhardt Fuchs, and Andreas Daum), “Philanthropy, Patronage, and Urban Politics: Transatlantic Transfers between Europe and North America in the 19th and Early 20th Century,” a conference at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 3-5 May 2001.  (Co-Sponsor:  German Historical Institute, Washington D.C.) Conference Report by Thomas Adam in the Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, Washington D.C., no. 29 (Fall 2001): 71-74. Conference Proceedings published in German as Zwischen Markt und Staat, ed. Thomas Adam and James Retallack (2001), and in English as Philanthropy, Patronage, and Civil Society, ed. Thomas Adam (2004).

 

·   Co-convener (with Peter Steinbach), “Wahlkultur und Regionalismus in Deutschland, 1830-1933” [Electoral Culture and Regionalism in Germany, 1830-1933], a workshop at the Otto-Suhr-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, 8 February 2001.

 

·   Principal Organizer, “From Emancipation to Restitution: Jews in German Society and Politics, 1800-2000,” a symposium at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 12 September 2000.

 

·   Co-convener (with Thomas Goebel), “Memory, Democracy, and the Mediated Nation: Political Cultures and Regional Identities in Germany, 1848-1998,” a conference at the University of Toronto, 18-20 September 1998. (Co-Sponsor: German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.) Conference proceedings published in English as Saxony in German History, ed. James Retallack (2000) and as Saxon Signposts, ed. James Retallack (1999), and in German as Sachsen in Deutschland, ed. James Retallack (2000).

 

·   Co-convener (with Peter Steinbach and Jürgen Schmädeke), “Wahl- und Wahlrechtskämpfe im regionalen Vergleich” [Election and Suffrage Struggles in Regional Comparison], a workshop at the Historische Kommission zu Berlin, 10-11 June 1994. Conference proceedings published as Modernisierung und Region im wilhelminischen Deutschland, ed. Simone Lässig, Karl Heinrich Pohl, and James Retallack (1995, 2nd ed. 1998).

 

·   Principal Organizer, “Elections, Mass Politics, and Social Change in Germany, 1890-1945:  New Perspectives,” a conference at the University of Toronto, 20-22 April 1990. (Co-Sponsor: German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.) Conference proceedings published as Elections, Mass Politics, and Social Change in Germany: New Perspectives, ed. Larry Eugene Jones and James Retallack (1992).

 

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Links

 

University of Toronto

Department of History

Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Joint Initiative in German and European Studies

Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

Centre for Jewish Studies

 

German Studies

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Gerda Henkel Foundation

German History Society

German Studies Association

German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.

German Historical Institute, London

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Goethe Institute / InterNationes Toronto

 

Other

Oxford Studies in Modern European History

The Royal Society of Canada

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Other Professional Activities, Appointments, and Affiliations

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This information is provided by James Retallack and the Department of History at the University of Toronto.
All contents © 2012 James Retallack and the University of Toronto. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 1 January 2012.