Ortschroniken and Heimatbücher are omnipresent in the memory culture of rural Germany. Although they address rather small audiences, together they represent a mass phenomenon of historiography. However, academic historians have mostly overlooked the importance of these books. Dirk Thomaschke's study is the first to undertake a country-wide survey of Ortschroniken and Heimatbücher from the post-war years to the present. The author unveils the unique patterns along which they write history and conceptualizes this as a genre of its own. Moreover, the book investigates comparable phenomena in the local history of the German Democratic Republic.

Dr. Dirk Thomaschke ist Kulturhistoriker und lebt in Hamburg. Zu seinen Forschungsinteressen zählen die Wissensgeschichte, die Erinnerungskultur und die Geschichte der Mobilität sowie kulturgeschichtliche Theorien und Philosophien.