Kevin Cramer Livres

The Greatest Generation fought a war on foreign soil with tanks and bullets. The lost generations of the turn of the millennium have no defined enemy to fight. Their war has become survival on the battlefields of their hometowns. Their enemy has no face. It is the sex, drugs, and violence of the adult world they are presented. Brian Crombeen is a normal, everyday, eighteen-year-old high school senior. He spends most of his day dreaming about girls, neglecting his homework, and contemplating the reality of cartoon characters with his baseball buddies. His life was rather ordinary until one weekend in May. Two days find him bloody, beaten, depressed, and wondering whether the government has singled him out for experimental torture. His normally happy thoughts turn dark and turbulent, leaving him with one question- Can he ride out the Storm?

The nineteenth century witnessed the birth of German nationalism and the unification of Germany as a powerful nation-state. In this era the reading public’s obsession with the most destructive and divisive war in its history—the Thirty Years’ War—resurrected old animosities and sparked a violent, century-long debate over the origins and aftermath of the war. The core of this bitter argument was a clash between Protestant and Catholic historians over the cultural criteria determining authentic German identity and the territorial and political form of the future German nation. This groundbreaking study of modern Germany’s morbid fascination with the war explores the ideological uses of history writing, commemoration, and collective remembrance to show how the passionate argument over the “meaning” of the Thirty Years’ War shaped Germans' conception of their nation. The first book in the extensive literature on German history writing to examine how modern German historians reinterpreted a specific event to define national identity and legitimate political and ideological agendas, The Thirty Years’ War and German Memory in the Nineteenth Century is a bold intellectual history of the confluence of history writing, religion, culture, and politics in nineteenth-century Germany.

Embracing the absurdity of life becomes essential for those trapped in monotonous blue-collar jobs, as the physical and emotional toll can be overwhelming. This book explores the struggles and resilience of individuals navigating the challenges of their daily grind, offering insights into finding meaning and humor amidst the chaos of their routines. Through relatable experiences, it highlights the importance of perspective and the ability to adapt to life's absurdities.