"In 1989, a new chapter in the long history of German culture began. Reunified Germany is of course not a "new" country, and its culture - including the political culture - contains elements whose origins lie in the period before 1945. This study concerns itself with one of these elements: the cultural conceptions and political views of right-wing intellectuals, and places this literature in the context of German history, politics, and society.

Reunification and the end of the Cold War have removed the taboos that had made it difficult for German conservatives to bring their views to the marketplace of ideas. A new self-confidence and openly displayed sense of national pride, unthinkable in the divided country, are now the order of the day, and the early 1990s saw an assault against the literary left that continues to this day. Simultaneously, a quite different kind of assault has become all too common on German streets: vicious attacks against non-Germans.

These two phenomena can be seen as manifestations of a general malaise, a disorientation that may last for quite some time, and Jay Rosellini approaches his subject with the belief that it would be irresponsible to ignore these disquieting trends." "This account is recommended for the general reader interested in international issues as well as for students and scholars of German, intellectual history, political science, and comparative sociology."--BOOK JACKET.