TY - BOOK ID - 143476478 TI - The German Forest : Nature, Identity, and the Contestation of a National Symbol, 1871-1914 PY - 2019 SN - 9781442686380 1442686383 9781442640993 1442640995 1442698047 1487521677 PB - Toronto : University of Toronto Press, DB - UniCat KW - Forests and forestry KW - Forest management KW - History. KW - Political aspects KW - Geschichte 1871-1914 KW - Deutschland KW - Landscape protection KW - National characteristics, German. KW - Forêts et sylviculture KW - Forêts KW - Paysages KW - Caractéristiques nationales allemandes KW - History KW - Histoire KW - Aspect politique KW - Gestion KW - Protection UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:143476478 AB - From the late eighteenth century, Germans increasingly identified the fate of their nation with that of their woodlands. A variety of groups soon mobilized the 'German forest' as a national symbol, though often in ways that suited their own social, economic, and political interests. The German Forest is the first book-length history of the development and contestation of the concept of 'German' woodlands.Jeffrey K. Wilson challenges the dominant interpretation that German connections to nature were based in agrarian romanticism rather than efforts at modernization. He explores a variety of conflicts over the symbol - from demands on landowners for public access to woodlands, to state attempts to integrate ethnic Slavs into German culture through forestry, and radical nationalist visions of woodlands as a model for the German 'race'. Through impressive primary and archival research, Wilson demonstrates that in addition to uniting Germans, the forest as a national symbol could also serve as a vehicle for protest and strife. ER -