Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena

Fellow Publications

Rudolf Kučera

Rationed Life

Everyday Life, and Working-Class Politics in the Bohemian Lands, 1914–1918

Berghahn Books
ISBN 978-1-78533-128-2
New York, Oxford, 2016
204 pages

This study reconstructs the experience of the Bohemian working class during the Great War through explorations of four basic spheres-food, labor, gender, and protest-that comprise a fascinating case study in early twentieth-century social history.

"This is an important contribution to our understanding of working-class life in central Europe during the First World War. Kučera convincingly shows that class mattered, if not in the way that actors at the time believed."  Jakub Beneš, University College, Oxford

"Rationed Life draws upon an impressive array of primary sources while displaying a truly remarkable familiarity with a wide range of secondary sources published in Czech, German, and English. This is an original and thought-provoking book that challenges us to rethink the experience of World War I in Bohemia, and beyond." Chad Bryant, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill