Crime Stories

<p> The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) was a crucial moment not only in German history but also in the history of both crime fiction and criminal science. This study approaches the period from a unique perspective - investigating the most notorious criminals of the time and the public's reaction to their crimes. The author argues that the development of a new type of crime fiction during this period - which turned literary tradition on its head by focusing on the criminal and abandoning faith in the powers of the rational detective - is intricately related to new ways of understanding criminality among professionals in the fields of law criminology and police science. Considering Weimar Germany not only as a culture in crisis (the standard view in both popular and scholarly studies) but also as a culture of crisis the author explores the ways in which crime and crisis became the foundation of the Republic's self-definition. An interdisciplinary cultural studies project this book insightfully combines history sociology literary studies and film studies to investigate a topic that cuts across all of these disciplines.</p>