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Introduction
13
sectionprovidesaninventoryofthevolumeaccordingtotheregional,
societal,andculturalfocuses.Themajorityoftheessaysconcentrateon
therelationsbetweenGermanyandtheU.S.,butalsootherregionsand
countriesfromEuropeandNorthAmericaarebroughtintodiscussion,
e.g.,Italy,Mexico,andPoland.Againreadingthetablevertically,we
canobservethatmostofthechaptersextensivelyemploycross-cultural
comparisonsandanalyses.
Thesethematic,interdisciplinary,andgeographicorientationsand
positionsalsoservetostructurethepresentvolumeintothreemain
parts.Afterthisintroductoryessay,inthefirstsectionofthevolume,
twoessaysmakeanattempttoreframethehistoryofAmerican-Ger-
manrelationsandtransatlanticaffairsbetweenU.S.,Germany,andthe
EuropeanUnion.First,PrzemysławŁukasikandMaikArnoldpinpoint
inanarrativehistoricalanalysisthecollectiveaspirationsandcultural
differencesbetweentheU.S.andGermanywhileincorporatingthe
twonationalallegoriesofSamandGermania.Basedonsevenliterary
charactersfromfamousWilliamShakespeare’splaysandsonnets,the
authorselaboratebothhistoricalandsocio-culturalexplanationsforthe
relationshipunderinvestigation,eachrepresentinganimaginationof
astoryof4loveandhate’.Foramethodicalapproach,aninterpretative
historicalresearchperspectiveischosentotransferthemeaningand
focalpointsfromtheliterarylevelofShakespeare’stextstoaninformed
historicalandsocio-culturalsubstantiation.Likethemajorityofhisto-
ricalstudiesintransatlanticresearchingeneral,PeterPichlerexplores
inhisessaythemetaphoricnarrativesof4friendship’and4partnership’
astwosideofthesamecoin,basedonarecenthistoricalanalysisof
therelationshipbetweentheU.S.andtheEuropeanUnion.Inspiredby
MichelFoucault’stheoryof4governmentality’,Pichlerquestionsthe
connectingmasternarrativeofthetwoaforementionedhistoriographies
asaspecificnetworkofpower.Thedeconstructionofthehistoricgene-
sisoftransatlanticpowernetworksafter1945givesusnewinsights
intotheEuropeanintegrationprocesswhichcannotbeunderstoodas
auniqueEuropeanachievementbutasasocialconstructthathasarisen
fromextensivepoliticaldiscourse.
Anyonewhoisinterestedinthemeaningofrecentfinancialpolicies
andreactionstotheglobalfinancialcrisesof2008andthediscourses
