The Great War and Urban Life in Germany
Freiburg, 1914–1918

"Chickering's study of Freiburg does not revise the conclusions of more recent social research, but its thoroughness and insight provide a much more exact understanding of how war actually works on the homefront: requisition, distribution, censorship, taxation, charity, etc. A chapter about the assault on sensory experience... is new and fascinating, as is Chickering's account of the disintegration of organizational life. One can literally feel the war tear Freiburg apart."
--Isabel V. Hull, Cornell University, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"The book is extraordinary, almost a reference book: that is likely how this 26-page monster will be used. Chapter by chapter, Chickering analyses, in Freiburg, the home/front connection/divide, mobilization, propaganda, women, crime, prisoners of war, food, class, and religion, among other subjects...formidable learning is on display." --The International History Review

"...compelling reading for the specialist, students of Wilhemine Germany, and those interested in twentieth-century total war...a welcome addition to the literature on the Great War, for it demonstrates that, in the modern age, few can avoid the fall-out of conflict." --Frederic Krome, University of Cincinnati Clermont College: Canadian Journal of History

"Chickering's goal, he tells us, was to produce an account that was "comprehensive, coherent, plausible, and ... easy to read" (p. 9). It is well met." -Jesse Kauffman, H-Urban

"This is the best and most revealing of several recent books dealing with the urban social history of The Great War." -Len Shurtleff, Stand To!

"a marvel of nuance and insight" -Central European History, Michael Geyer

"Chickering's unfailingly observant, detailed and comprehensive study of civilian life in Freiburg in Breisgua during World War I is a marvel of nuance and insight." -Michael Geyer, Central European History