This book originated as a dissertation, and there are a number of people to whom I owe thanks and gratitude for their support in furthering this undertaking at that earlier stage. Foremost, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, who in various ways helped me lay the earlier basis for this work: Peter Novick, without whose moral encouragement and critical insight I would likely not have pursued an investigation in historical political economy, and without whose editorial advice the opacity of my prose would probably not have been held in check; Adam Przeworski, to whom I owe the understanding and appreciation of Marxist social theory which inspired the project and which underlies much of the analysis undertaken here; and Friedrich Katz, whose own understanding of the Weimar era is exceeded only by his modesty. Further, for their comments on and assistance with different parts of the manuscript at various stages, I would like to thank John Coatsworth, Arcadius Kahan, Leonard Krieger, and Hans-Jürgen Puhle. Thanks for their assistance are also due Dieter Gessner, Hans Mommsen, and Bernd Weisbrod; our works are parts of the same discourse, as much where we differ as where we agree. Finally, the critical exchange and sense of communal endeavour provided at Chicago by the political scientists, historians, and sociologists gathered in the Marxist theory and doctoral seminars opened new and fruitful perspectives and were both timely and animating.
Once at Princeton, I began to benefit from the stimulation and range of challenges provided by my colleagues in the History Department. The spirit of critical inquiry that they help nourish assisted me and is, I hope, evident in my work. No one has been a source of greater encouragement and tougher criticism than Arno Mayer; he has both compelled me to clarify my arguments and encouraged me to stand by them. At a time when radical critique is rather out of fashion, if not quite forgotten, he has faithfully supported me in my project while consistently demanding that I be able to put my case before the dubious and even the hostile. For this and other kindnesses, I register my thanks.
As I embarked on the final stages of this book, I was fortunate enough to receive the challenging criticisms of Gerald Feldman, whose own work on politics and economics in late-imperial and Weimar Germany has done so much to illuminate important issues and further interest in many of the right sorts of questions. Although we shall continue to disagree on a number of important matters, his critique has helped me to sharpen my own interpretation and to appreciate its weaknesses as well as its strengths.
For their generosity in making archival materials available to me, I would like to thank the following: the staff of the Bundesarchiv (Koblenz, FRG), in particular Dr. Thomas Trumpp; Mrs. R. Märsenhausen of the Deutsche Industrie Institut (Cologne, FRG); the entire staff of the Zentrales Staatsarchiv I (Potsdam, GDR) – the former Deutsches Zentral Archiv – which was quite accommodating; and Mr. Bodo Herzog, the beleaguered yet irrepressible holder of the keys to the kingdom at the archives of the Gutehoffnungshütte (Oberhausen, FRG).
Financial assistance was provided at various points in my research and writing by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). A grant from the Princeton Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences facilitated preparation of the final manuscript.
I should like to acknowledge the conscientious and sympathetic treatment received from my editors at Princeton University Press, Miriam Brokaw and Robert Brown, as well as the assistance of Derek Linton in organising much of the index.
Finally, I thank my wife, Sandra, without whose sage counsel, help, patience, faith, and comfort at innumerable moments this book would never have been completed.