Brewing Socialism

Andrew Kloiber earned his Ph.D. in 2017 at McMaster University (Canada). His work broadly examines the cultural history of Modern Germany – particularly the role of material culture in shaping identity, social norms and power. His work has received generous support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Historical Institute Washington, the University of Exeter, and McMaster University.

• AcknowledgmentsList of TablesList of ImagesList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChapter 1. “A Word on Coffee”: Coffee and Everyday Life in East Germany, 1945–1965Chapter 2. Coffee and the “Modern Comforts” of SocialismChapter 3. Bitter Grounds: East Germany’s “Coffee Crisis” of 1977–1978Chapter 4. Bread and Guns for Coffee: Searching for Coffee in Ethiopia and Angola, 1977–1979Chapter 5. Cultivating Coffee, Brewing Solidarity in Laos and Vietnam, 1979–1986Conclusion: The Taste That RemainsBibliography

“In an exemplary fashion, Brewing Socialism highlights the power and cultural politics of consumption in the former East Germany. By focusing on one specific but important commodity, coffee, the author explores the connection between consumer demands and expectations and the political decision-making of the SED leadership. Kloiber does an admirable job in terms of exploring the fraught assumptions and long-term implications of these negotiations with socialist developing nations, in which socialist brotherhood was not always the most essential and driving motivation.” • Gerd Horten, Emeritus Professor of Concordia University