Urban Liberalism in Imperial Germany

This book challenges a central assumption in the history of imperial Germany, of unworldly German liberals surrendering their ideals to an authoritarian German state. Through an intensive study of Frankfurt am Main, one of Germany's most progressive cities, the author highlights instead the sophistication of liberals in local government. He argues that the problem lay not in the weaknesses of German liberals but in Germany's rigid federal constitution, which prevented the renewal of liberalism from the grass roots.