Required Background Surveys

I have looked through the online background readings in lieu of Orlow, and decided that the two best for you to use are Gordon Craig, Germany, 1866-1945 and Voelker Berghahn,Modern Germany: Society, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century, both available via libraries.luc.edu, under the ACLS Humanities E-Books listings.  [Login to Flagship with your LUC ID.]

Craig's is a little older, but it is a masterpiece. Berghahn's goes further into the post-1945 era. 

 Between the two--or whichever you prefer--you will have all the social and political background you need to follow the basic line of "what actually happened" ["Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist." - Leopold von Ranke, the first modern historian, German or otherwise.] [Or, "The history of one damn thing after another"--attributed to Winston Churchill, a great historian in addition to everything else he did.] In other words, the basic background to the cultural responses we are studying. 

Also, a good thing about this site is that it seems simple: I don't think you have to "check out" the ebooks, and should be able to access them (with your LUC id) simultaneously, etc. Let me know if you have difficulties. I will add links to these for each course section, since they have chapters on each.

So, you have three fundamental layers:

• Background surveys: basic political and social history [Orlow (if you have it); Berghahn; or Craig]. 
• Background readings: deeper scholarship on particular issues [Stern, Mosse, Eksteins, etc.] 
• Primary readings, films, etc: HMann, Remarque, Doeblin, etc.

These, with my lecture guidance, constitute the core of the course and are what you will need -- at the least -- to write your exams. Other articles, films, links, etc., will be added for spice and further exploration.