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Podcast: New Books in Western European Studies
Episode: Ned Richardson-Little, "The German Democratic Republic: The Rise and Fall of a Cold War State" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Description: The German Democratic Republic has come to stand as a symbol of communist tyranny, a source of Cold War nostalgia and socialist kitsch, and a failed alternative to the worst excesses of 21st century capitalism.
In this book, Ned Richardson-Little delves into the central contradictions of the GDR state: This book illustrates the fault lines of GDR society, the worldviews and experiences of not only those who ruled the GDR, but also those who rebelled against the strictures of state socialism, and those in between who sought a normal life under dictatorship.
The German Democratic...