Book of the month - June 2015

Deutsch-Amerikaner im Ersten Weltkrieg

US-Politik und nationale Identitäten im Mittleren Westen

How does a society react in times of war to immigrants stemming from the country the nation is at war with? Should they be put under observation? Should they be ignored or be interned?

German Americans were seen by large parts of the American society as a threat to the countries security and well being. Nine percents of the countries population were of German heritage, in some regions in the midwest however German Americans made up almost 50 percent. After the outbreak of the war, many Americans felt uneasy about being surrounded by so many potential enemies. This study by Katja Wüstenbecker the development of the Anti-German senitment  - from the long period of neutrality between 1914 and 1917, which escalated after the US joined the war in the spring of 1917.