German home towns

German Home Towns is a social biography of the hometown Bürger from the late seventeenth to early twentieth centuries. Mack Walker begins with an exploration of the political, social, and economic foundations of town life before tracing a painful decline that ultimately leads to death and transformation in the twentieth century. He addresses local government, corporate economies, and communal society while illuminating significant aspects of German history, such as the Holy Roman Empire's workings, Napoleonic reforms, and the revolution of 1848. Walker also examines the challenges of German liberalism in defining freedom for both the "movers and doers" and the citizens of hometowns. In the concluding chapter, he discusses the historical extinction of these towns and their ideological transformation, linking this to Germans' "ubiquitous yearning for organic wholeness," which found a dark expression in National Socialism’s false promise of racial community. Originally published in 1971, this work remains a significant and engaging account of German history, featuring compelling ideas and insights on topics like cameralism, baroque culture, and legal history. It includes discussions of political theorists, historians, and philologists while being sensitive to long-term trends such as bureaucratic state rise, population growth, and market expansion, alongside the nuances of everyday life.