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Zizek: Beyond Foucault
by F. Vighi H. FeldnerThis book brings together two of the most influential thinkers in critical theory. By unmasking reality as contingent symbolic fiction, the authors argue, Foucauldian criticism has only deconstructed the world in different ways; the point, however, is 'to recognize the Real in what appears to be mere symbolic fiction' (Žižek) and to change it.
Zitadelle: The German Offensive Against the Kursk Salient 4-17 July 1943
by Mark HealyFew battles attract interest so much as the Battle of Kursk. Operation Zitadelle, the code name given by Hitler to the Wehrmacht's last offensive on the Eastern Front in July 1943, has acquired an almost mythic status as one of the greatest clashes of armour in the history of warfare. Long been depicted as the ‘the swan song of the German tank arm’ by virtue of the huge tank losses experienced by the Germans; the reality, in light of the emergence of new information proved it to be anything but, with historians previously accepting without question exaggerated Soviet accounts of the battle. For all the resources devoted to this operation by the Germans, Zitadelle was an abysmal failure; and whilst they were not outfought by the Red Army at Kursk, they were out-thought by commanders of outstanding quality. Zitadelle describes the German and Soviet tactics and explores the realities of the battles on sodden ground that culminated in the defeat of the panzers and the Soviet advance on the Reich.
Zipporah: A Heroine Of The Old Testament
by Marek Halter Howard CurtisMore than three thousand years ago, a black child was found on the shore of the Red Sea. She was given the name Zipporah, 'the bird'. But because of the colour of her skin, her fate was sealed: in the tribal lands where she lived, no man would want her as a wife. But one day, as she was drawing water at a well, Zipporah met a man like no other she'd met before. An outcast like herself, his name was Moses and he was a fugitive from Egypt. A passionate lover and a generous wife, Zipporah the Black, the stranger, the non-Jew, was to share Moses' destiny. Thanks to her, he would forget his fears and hear the message of God, bequeathing to mankind laws that, even today, protect the weak against the strong. But Zipporah's love for Moses would condemn her - for among the Hebrews of the Exodus her status as a black woman was to have catastrophic consequences...A forgotten protagonist of the Old Testament, Zipporah was the embodiment of intelligence and love. Although the weakest of the weak, she was the first to understand the full potential of the role given to Moses, her emotional bravery and strength in adversity making her, like Sarah, an astonishing modern heroine: a woman for her - and our - troubled times.
Zion's Dilemmas: How Israel Makes National Security Policy (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
by Charles D. FreilichIn Zion’s Dilemmas, a former deputy national security advisor to the State of Israel details the history and, in many cases, the chronic inadequacies in the making of Israeli national security policy. Charles D. Freilich identifies profound, ongoing problems that he ascribes to a series of factors: a hostile and highly volatile regional environment, Israel’s proportional representation electoral system, and structural peculiarities of the Israeli government and bureaucracy. Freilich uses his insider understanding and substantial archival and interview research to describe how Israel has made strategic decisions and to present a first of its kind model of national security decision-making in Israel. He analyzes the major events of the last thirty years, from Camp David I to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, through Camp David II, the Gaza Disengagement Plan of 2005, and the second Lebanon war of 2006. In these and other cases he identifies opportunities forgone, failures that resulted from a flawed decision-making process, and the entanglement of Israeli leaders in an inconsistent, highly politicized, and sometimes improvisational planning process. The cabinet is dysfunctional and Israel does not have an effective statutory forum for its decision-making—most of which is thus conducted in informal settings. In many cases policy objectives and options are poorly formulated. For all these problems, however, the Israeli decision-making process does have some strengths, among them the ability to make rapid and flexible responses, generally pragmatic decision-making, effective planning within the defense establishment, and the skills and motivation of those involved. Freilich concludes with cogent and timely recommendations for reform.
A Zionist Stand
by Ze'ev B. BeginA member of the Knesset, Dr Begin here reflects upon the mainstream political thought of the Likud Party which came to power in 1977. This book analyzes the basic factors relevant to the Israeli position in the Middle East, providing a different outlook on the complexities of the region.
A Zionist Stand
by Ze'ev B. BeginA member of the Knesset, Dr Begin here reflects upon the mainstream political thought of the Likud Party which came to power in 1977. This book analyzes the basic factors relevant to the Israeli position in the Middle East, providing a different outlook on the complexities of the region.
The Zionist Masquerade: The Birth of the Anglo-Zionist Alliance, 1914-1918
by J. RentonThis book offers a new interpretation of a critical chapter in the history of the Zionist-Palestine conflict and the British Empire in the Middle East. It contends that the Balfour Declaration was one of many British propaganda policies during the World War I that were underpinned by misconceived notions of ethnicity, ethnic power and nationalism.
Zionism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Michael StanislawskiZionism is the nationalist movement affirming Jewish people's right to self-determination through the establishment of a Jewish national state in its ancient homeland. It is one of the most controversial ideologies in the world. Its supporters laud its success at liberating the Jewish people after millennia of persecution and at securing the creation of Israel. But to its opponents, Zionism relies on a racist ideology culminating in Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and is one of the last manifestations of colonial oppression in the world. Since the late 1990s, the centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the world news has sharpened this controversy, dramatically politicizing any attempt to understand Zionism and its significance as an intellectual and cultural movement. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Stanislawski presents an impartial and disinterested history of Zionist ideology from its origins to the present. Sharp and accessible, this book charts the crucial moments in the ideological development of Zionism, including the emergence of modern Jewish nationalism in early nineteenth century Europe, the founding of the Zionist movement by Theodor Herzl in 1897, the Balfour Declaration, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, the Six Day War in 1967, the rise of the "Peace Now" movement, and the election of conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Stanislawski's balanced analysis of these controversial events illuminates why, despite the undeniable success in its goal of creating a Jewish state, profound questions remain today about the long-term viability of Zionist ideology in a rapidly destabilizing Middle East.
Zionism, Palestinian Nationalism and the Law: 1939-1948 (UCLA Center for Middle East Development (CMED))
by Steven E. ZippersteinDuring the last decade of the British Mandate for Palestine (1939–1948), Arabs and Jews used the law as a resource to gain leverage against each other and to influence international opinion. The parties invoked "transformational legal framing" to portray the essentially political-religious conflict as a legal dispute involving claims of justice, injustice, and victimisation, and giving rise to legal/equitable remedies. Employing this form of narrative and framing in multiple "trials" during the first 15 years of the Mandate, the parties continued the practice during the last and most crucial decade of the Mandate. The term "trial" provides an appropriate typology for understanding the adversarial proceedings during those years in which judges, lawyers, witnesses, cross-examination, and legal argumentation played a key role in the conflict. The four trials between 1939 and 1947 produced three different outcomes: the one-state solution in favour of the Palestinian Arabs, the no-state solution, and the two-state solution embodied in the United Nations November 1947 partition resolution, culminating in Israel's independence in May 1948. This study analyses the role of the law during the last decade of the British Mandate for Palestine, making an essential contribution to the literature on lawfare, framing and narrative, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Zionism, Palestinian Nationalism and the Law: 1939-1948 (UCLA Center for Middle East Development (CMED))
by Steven E. ZippersteinDuring the last decade of the British Mandate for Palestine (1939–1948), Arabs and Jews used the law as a resource to gain leverage against each other and to influence international opinion. The parties invoked "transformational legal framing" to portray the essentially political-religious conflict as a legal dispute involving claims of justice, injustice, and victimisation, and giving rise to legal/equitable remedies. Employing this form of narrative and framing in multiple "trials" during the first 15 years of the Mandate, the parties continued the practice during the last and most crucial decade of the Mandate. The term "trial" provides an appropriate typology for understanding the adversarial proceedings during those years in which judges, lawyers, witnesses, cross-examination, and legal argumentation played a key role in the conflict. The four trials between 1939 and 1947 produced three different outcomes: the one-state solution in favour of the Palestinian Arabs, the no-state solution, and the two-state solution embodied in the United Nations November 1947 partition resolution, culminating in Israel's independence in May 1948. This study analyses the role of the law during the last decade of the British Mandate for Palestine, making an essential contribution to the literature on lawfare, framing and narrative, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Zionism in Arab discourses (PDF)
by Uriya Shavit Ofir WinterZionism in Arab discourses presents a ground-breaking study of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Through analyses of hundreds of texts written by Arab Islamists and liberals from the late-nineteenth century to the 'Arab Spring', the book demonstrates that the Zionist enterprise has played a dual function of an enemy and a mentor. Islamists and liberals alike discovered, respectively, in Zionism and in Israeli society qualities they sought to implement in their sown homelands. Focusing on Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian political discourses, this study uncovers fascinating and unexpected Arab points of views on different aspects of Zionism; from the first Zionist Congress to the First Lebanon War; from gardening in the early years of Tel Aviv to women's service in the Israeli Defence Forces; from the role of religion in the creation of the state to the role of democracy in its preservation. This study presents the debates between and within contesting Arab ideological trends on a conflict that has shaped, and is certain to continue and shape, one of the most complicated regions in the world.
Zionism in Arab discourses
by Uriya Shavit Ofir WinterZionism in Arab discourses presents a ground-breaking study of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Through analyses of hundreds of texts written by Arab Islamists and liberals from the late-nineteenth century to the 'Arab Spring', the book demonstrates that the Zionist enterprise has played a dual function of an enemy and a mentor. Islamists and liberals alike discovered, respectively, in Zionism and in Israeli society qualities they sought to implement in their sown homelands. Focusing on Palestinian, Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian political discourses, this study uncovers fascinating and unexpected Arab points of views on different aspects of Zionism; from the first Zionist Congress to the First Lebanon War; from gardening in the early years of Tel Aviv to women's service in the Israeli Defence Forces; from the role of religion in the creation of the state to the role of democracy in its preservation. This study presents the debates between and within contesting Arab ideological trends on a conflict that has shaped, and is certain to continue and shape, one of the most complicated regions in the world.
Zionism and the Creation of a New Society (Studies in Jewish History)
by the late Ben Halpern Jehuda ReinharzIsrael is a modern state whose institutions were clearly shaped by an ideological movement. The declaration of independence in 1948 was an immediate expression of the fundamental Zionist idea: it gave effect to a plan advocated by organized Zionists since the 1880s for solving the Jewish Problem. Thus, major Israeli political institutions, such as the party structure, embody principles and practices that were followed in the World Zionist Organization. In this respect, Israel is similar to other new states whose political institutions directly derive from the nationalist movements that won their independence. History and social structure are inseparably joined; the contemporary social problems of the new state are clearly rooted in its history, while the shape of its future is being decided by the very policies through which it is trying to solve these problems. At the same time, there are many unique aspects to the birth of Israel. The problem to be solved by acquiring sovereignty in Israel (and establishing a free Jewish society there) was the problem of a people living in exile. The first stage, therefore, was to return to the people a homeland to which they were intimately attached, not only in their dreams but in the minute details of their ways of life. This important book studies the birth of the State of Israel and analyzes the elaborately articulated and variegated ideological principles of the Zionist movement that led to that birth. It examines conflicting pre-state ideals and the social structure that emerged in Palestine's Jewish community during the Mandate period. In particular, Zionism and the Creation of a New Society reflects upon Israel's existence as both a state and a social structure--a place conceived before its birth as a means of solving a particular social malady: the modern Jewish Problem. Jehuda Reinharz and the late Ben Halpern carefully trace the development of the Zionist idea from its earliest expressions up to the eve of World War II, setting their study against a broad background of political and social development throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Zionism and Land Tenure in Mandate Palestine (Routledge Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict)
by Aida EssaidA fundamental aspect of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is the territorial dispute which began long before the State of Israel was established. Analysing the land tenure system in Palestine under the administration of the British Mandate, this book questions whether, and to what extent, the land tenure system in Palestine facilitated Zionist land acquisition. The research uses benchmarks elaborated in the guidelines of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme as its analytical starting point, and looks at the formation and implementation of the land tenure system in Palestine. It goes on to place the penetration of Zionism into the land tenure system within the theoretical context of a colonial-settler framework, employing information from land registry records located at the Jordanian Department of Lands. Providing a political-historical analysis of the land tenure system from the end of Ottoman Rule until the end of the British Mandate, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of Middle Eastern History, Imperial and Colonial History, and Middle Eastern Politics.
Zionism and Land Tenure in Mandate Palestine (Routledge Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict)
by Aida EssaidA fundamental aspect of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is the territorial dispute which began long before the State of Israel was established. Analysing the land tenure system in Palestine under the administration of the British Mandate, this book questions whether, and to what extent, the land tenure system in Palestine facilitated Zionist land acquisition. The research uses benchmarks elaborated in the guidelines of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme as its analytical starting point, and looks at the formation and implementation of the land tenure system in Palestine. It goes on to place the penetration of Zionism into the land tenure system within the theoretical context of a colonial-settler framework, employing information from land registry records located at the Jordanian Department of Lands. Providing a political-historical analysis of the land tenure system from the end of Ottoman Rule until the end of the British Mandate, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of Middle Eastern History, Imperial and Colonial History, and Middle Eastern Politics.
Zionism And Judaism: A New Theory
by David NovakWhy should anyone be a Zionist, a supporter of a Jewish state in the land of Israel? Why should there be a Jewish state in the land of Israel? This book seeks to provide a philosophical answer to these questions. Although a Zionist need not be Jewish, nonetheless this book argues that Zionism is only a coherent political stance when it is intelligently rooted in Judaism, especially in the classical Jewish doctrine of God's election of the people of Israel and the commandment to them to settle the land of Israel. The religious Zionism advocated here is contrasted with secular versions of Zionism that take Zionism to be a replacement of Judaism. It is also contrasted with versions of religious Zionism that ascribe messianic significance to the State of Israel, or which see the main task of religious Zionism to be the establishment of an Israeli theocracy.
Zionism And The Creation Of A New Society
by Ben Halpern Jehuda ReinharzIsrael is a modern state whose institutions were clearly shaped by an ideological movement. The declaration of independence in 1948 was an immediate expression of the fundamental Zionist idea: it gave effect to a plan advocated by organized Zionists since the 1880s for solving the Jewish Problem. Thus, major Israeli political institutions, such as the party structure, embody principles and practices that were followed in the World Zionist Organization. In this respect, Israel is similar to other new states whose political institutions directly derive from the nationalist movements that won their independence. History and social structure are inseparably joined; the contemporary social problems of the new state are clearly rooted in its history, while the shape of its future is being decided by the very policies through which it is trying to solve these problems. At the same time, there are many unique aspects to the birth of Israel. The problem to be solved by acquiring sovereignty in Israel (and establishing a free Jewish society there) was the problem of a people living in exile. The first stage, therefore, was to return to the people a homeland to which they were intimately attached, not only in their dreams but in the minute details of their ways of life. This important book studies the birth of the State of Israel and analyzes the elaborately articulated and variegated ideological principles of the Zionist movement that led to that birth. It examines conflicting pre-state ideals and the social structure that emerged in Palestine's Jewish community during the Mandate period. In particular,Zionism and the Creation of a New Societyreflects upon Israel's existence as both a state and a social structure--a place conceived before its birth as a means of solving a particular social malady: the modern Jewish Problem. Jehuda Reinharz and the late Ben Halpern carefully trace the development of the Zionist idea from its earliest expressions up to the eve of World War II, setting their study against a broad background of political and social development throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Zionism
by David EngelZionism is an international political movement that was originally dedicated to the resettlement of Jewish people in the Promised Land, and is now synonymous with support for the modern state of Israel. This addition to the Short Histories of Big Ideas series looks at the controversial and topical notion of Zionism from a balanced viewpoint, concentrating on where it came from, how it accomplished its goals, and why it affected so many people.
Zionism
by David EngelZionism is an international political movement that was originally dedicated to the resettlement of Jewish people in the Promised Land, and is now synonymous with support for the modern state of Israel. This addition to the Short Histories of Big Ideas series looks at the controversial and topical notion of Zionism from a balanced viewpoint, concentrating on where it came from, how it accomplished its goals, and why it affected so many people.
Zionism: Cosmopolitanism And Nationalism From Nordau To Jabotinsky (Very Short Introductions)
by Michael StanislawskiZionism is the nationalist movement affirming Jewish people's right to self-determination through the establishment of a Jewish national state in its ancient homeland. It is one of the most controversial ideologies in the world. Its supporters laud its success at liberating the Jewish people after millennia of persecution and at securing the creation of Israel. But to its opponents, Zionism relies on a racist ideology culminating in Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and is one of the last manifestations of colonial oppression in the world. Since the late 1990s, the centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the world news has sharpened this controversy, dramatically politicizing any attempt to understand Zionism and its significance as an intellectual and cultural movement. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Stanislawski presents an impartial and disinterested history of Zionist ideology from its origins to the present. Sharp and accessible, this book charts the crucial moments in the ideological development of Zionism, including the emergence of modern Jewish nationalism in early nineteenth century Europe, the founding of the Zionist movement by Theodor Herzl in 1897, the Balfour Declaration, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, the Six Day War in 1967, the rise of the "Peace Now" movement, and the election of conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Stanislawski's balanced analysis of these controversial events illuminates why, despite the undeniable success in its goal of creating a Jewish state, profound questions remain today about the long-term viability of Zionist ideology in a rapidly destabilizing Middle East.
Zion in Africa: The Jews of Zambia
by Hugh MacMillan Frank ShapiroThis work represents the definitive account of the Jewish community in central Africa. It tells the story of the coming of the first Jews to the area in the late 19th century, the heyday of the Jewish community in the mid-20th century, and its decline since Zambian independence. Dealing primarily with the Jewish traders in Zambia who flourished in the face of both anti-semitism and their own acute social dislocation, Macmillan explores a number of interrelated topics: the colonial office discussions about Jewish immigration in the 1930s, the attempts to settle refugees in Africa by both pro-and anti-semites, Jewish religious life in the region, and the remarkable cultural and professional role played by the Jewish settlers. Setting these issues in the context of a general history of southern and central Africa, this book constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of the economic history of the entire region. It will be of interest to both historians of Africa and anyone concerned with economic development, identity and immigrant communities.
The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies
by Gill BennettThis is the story of one of the most enduring conspiracy theories in British politics, an intrigue that still has resonance almost a century later: the Zinoviev Letter of 1924. Almost certainly a forgery, no original has ever been traced, and even if genuine it was probably Soviet 'fake news'. Despite this, the Letter still haunts British politics nearly a century after it was written; it was the subject of major Whitehall investigations in the 1960s and 1990s, and cropped up in the media as recently as during the Referendum campaign and the 2017 general election. The Letter, encouraging the British proletariat to greater revolutionary fervour, was apparently sent by Grigori Zinoviev, head of the Bolshevik propaganda organization, to the British Communist Party in September 1924. Sent to London through British Secret Intelligence Service channels, it arrived during the general election campaign and was leaked to the press. The Letter's publication by the Daily Mail on 25 October 1924 just before the General Election humiliated the first ever British Labour government, headed by Ramsay MacDonald, when its political opponents used it to create a 'Red Scare' in the media. Labour blamed the Letter for its defeat, insisting there had been a right-wing Establishment conspiracy, and many in the Labour Party have never forgotten it. The Zinoviev Letter has long been a symbol of political dirty tricks and what we would now call 'fake news'. But it is also a gripping historical detective story of spies and secrets, fraud and forgery, international subversion and the nascent global conflict between communism and capitalism.
The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies
by Gill BennettThis is the story of one of the most enduring conspiracy theories in British politics, an intrigue that still has resonance almost a century later: the Zinoviev Letter of 1924. Almost certainly a forgery, no original has ever been traced, and even if genuine it was probably Soviet 'fake news'. Despite this, the Letter still haunts British politics nearly a century after it was written; it was the subject of major Whitehall investigations in the 1960s and 1990s, and cropped up in the media as recently as during the Referendum campaign and the 2017 general election. The Letter, encouraging the British proletariat to greater revolutionary fervour, was apparently sent by Grigori Zinoviev, head of the Bolshevik propaganda organization, to the British Communist Party in September 1924. Sent to London through British Secret Intelligence Service channels, it arrived during the general election campaign and was leaked to the press. The Letter's publication by the Daily Mail on 25 October 1924 just before the General Election humiliated the first ever British Labour government, headed by Ramsay MacDonald, when its political opponents used it to create a 'Red Scare' in the media. Labour blamed the Letter for its defeat, insisting there had been a right-wing Establishment conspiracy, and many in the Labour Party have never forgotten it. The Zinoviev Letter has long been a symbol of political dirty tricks and what we would now call 'fake news'. But it is also a gripping historical detective story of spies and secrets, fraud and forgery, international subversion and the nascent global conflict between communism and capitalism.
The Zimmern Chronicle: Nobility, Memory, and Self-Representation in Sixteenth-Century Germany
by Erica Bastress-DukehartThe Zimmern Chronicle: Nobility, Memory, and Self-Representation in Sixteenth-Century Germany brings the history of the Zimmern family to English readers for the first time. In it the author not only offers a new solution to the problem of the text's authorship, but examines the chronicle in the context of broader current debates, including the problem of the relationship of the early modern German nobility to the state; memory studies; and self-representation. The Zimmern Chronicle is arguably the most famous noble family chronicle to come out of sixteenth-century Germany. Unlike other noble chronicles that appeared at the same time, this work is distinctive in that it represents the collective memory of the Southwest German nobility. Not content to give voice only to their own ancestry-and by extension their own existence-the Zimmern authors included the voices of their noble contemporaries. By memorializing relationships within their community, they drew attention to the increasingly important issue of how their lineages had been historically constituted. Bastress-Dukehart first relates the history of the chronicle and introduces the long-standing mystery surrounding the text's authorship. She then draws attention to the importance of inheritance and the obligation for ancestral memorialization that property devolution demands. Put simply, inherited land and ancestral memory together manifested the nobility's social image and demonstrated its political power. She then sets the stage for the history the chronicle tells, recounting a feud between the Zimmern family and the more powerful Werdenberg family and examining how in general feuds helped to shape the German nobility's political relationships and personal values. Thus, Bastress-Dukehart portrays the Zimmern Chronicle as far more than just a family history. She argues that because the Zimmern authors filled their work with legends, sexual tales, and farcical stories of daily life in Southwest Germany, they proved themselves adept at offering their readers puzzles to solve, of sparking imagination and stimulating curiosity. In short, they developed a number of memory devices intended to make certain that their audience, once engaged, would read their work to its conclusion. Who, after all, would not want a glimpse into the minds, habits, and bedrooms of the pre-modern nobility? By adopting these devices, the Zimmern authors have proven the sanctity of the obligation to memorialize ancestral achievements: their chronicle has endured-the memory of the family continues.
The Zimmern Chronicle: Nobility, Memory, and Self-Representation in Sixteenth-Century Germany
by Erica Bastress-DukehartThe Zimmern Chronicle: Nobility, Memory, and Self-Representation in Sixteenth-Century Germany brings the history of the Zimmern family to English readers for the first time. In it the author not only offers a new solution to the problem of the text's authorship, but examines the chronicle in the context of broader current debates, including the problem of the relationship of the early modern German nobility to the state; memory studies; and self-representation. The Zimmern Chronicle is arguably the most famous noble family chronicle to come out of sixteenth-century Germany. Unlike other noble chronicles that appeared at the same time, this work is distinctive in that it represents the collective memory of the Southwest German nobility. Not content to give voice only to their own ancestry-and by extension their own existence-the Zimmern authors included the voices of their noble contemporaries. By memorializing relationships within their community, they drew attention to the increasingly important issue of how their lineages had been historically constituted. Bastress-Dukehart first relates the history of the chronicle and introduces the long-standing mystery surrounding the text's authorship. She then draws attention to the importance of inheritance and the obligation for ancestral memorialization that property devolution demands. Put simply, inherited land and ancestral memory together manifested the nobility's social image and demonstrated its political power. She then sets the stage for the history the chronicle tells, recounting a feud between the Zimmern family and the more powerful Werdenberg family and examining how in general feuds helped to shape the German nobility's political relationships and personal values. Thus, Bastress-Dukehart portrays the Zimmern Chronicle as far more than just a family history. She argues that because the Zimmern authors filled their work with legends, sexual tales, and farcical stories of daily life in Southwest Germany, they proved themselves adept at offering their readers puzzles to solve, of sparking imagination and stimulating curiosity. In short, they developed a number of memory devices intended to make certain that their audience, once engaged, would read their work to its conclusion. Who, after all, would not want a glimpse into the minds, habits, and bedrooms of the pre-modern nobility? By adopting these devices, the Zimmern authors have proven the sanctity of the obligation to memorialize ancestral achievements: their chronicle has endured-the memory of the family continues.