German Monuments in the Americas

This book looks at the many transatlantic bonds which have linked and still link Germany and the United States. German immigrants to the Americas brought with them a good deal of cultural baggage. They cultivated their German heritage in their schools, churches, and clubs. They expressed pride in this heritage by erecting monuments to Goethe or Schiller, Beethoven or Wagner, Alexander von Humboldt or «Turnvater» Jahn. They claimed Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Carl Schurz, Gustave Koerner, and John A. Roebling as their own. But German-born or German-trained sculptors did not limit themselves to German subjects. They also paid tribute to America by creating sculptures of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and others who occupy a place of honor in American history. While a few German monuments can be found in Canada and in Latin America, the number of German monuments in the United States is surprisingly large. These monuments illustrate the contribution often overlooked or ignored of the German-American community to American society and American cultural life.

Autorentext

The Author: Hans A. Pohlsander is a native of Germany, but a long-time resident of the United States. He holds degrees from the University of Utah, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan. He is Professor Emeritus of Classics and Religious Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His principal publications are Helena: Empress and Saint (1995), The Emperor Constantine (1996 and 2004), and most recently, National Monuments and Nationalism in 19th Century Germany (Bern: Peter Lang 2008). He has also edited Volumes VII and XII of Sources for the History of Cyprus (1999 and 2006).

Inhalt
Contents: The Pioneers The American Revolution The Forty-eighters and the Civil War Leaders in Business, the Arts, and Government The German Heritage The German Heritage, Continued Tribute to America Religious and Decorative Sculpture German Monuments in Latin America