Shouldering the Burdens of Defeat

“Hughes describes the competing Lastenausgleich movements and their leaders well and at great length. . . . There is enough detail of the various options and turns in the history of the Lastenausgleich to satisfy any student of policy and law making.” — American Historical Review

“Hughes employs a wide range of sources, including contemporary public opinion surveys, private papers from many politicians and financiers and lobbying and parliamentary party collections.” — Canadian Journal of History

“Impeccably researched.” — H-German

“[A] highly original study of postwar West German political, social, and economic reconstruction.” — Journal of Economic History

“An informative and impressive book — carefully structured, clearly written, sensitive to the mentalities and interests of its protagonists, and grounded in a fine command of extensive source material. It makes a significant and original contribution to the literature on the early history of the German Federal Republic and on the process by which that regime won widespread popular support during the 1950s.” — Peter Hayes, Northwestern University

“An interesting and thoughtful account of how West Germany dealt with the financial consequences of the past that raises important questions about the contrasts of Bonn with the Weimar Republic.” — Harold James, Princeton University