This set of sixteen chapters covers a wide range of topics relating to German colonialism from approximately 1884 through 1945. Two major themes emerge from, even if they are not systematically pursued by, the various authors—first and most prominently, the links between occupation of overseas territories and other forms of German “colonialism” and, second, the resonances of territorial colonialism within domestic German political, economic, and cultural life.
Steinmetz (in a work not related to his contribution to this volume) uses the German case to make a widely cited distinction between overseas “exotic” colonies and the expansion of state boundaries within Europe.1 However Eley in the opening chapter, offers “a far more capacious concept of colonialism” (24), including such issues as Weltpolitik (general international power assertion), emigration, and German control over East and East Central Europe. In this spirit, the book contains only five chapters about African and Asian German...