Tracing multiple mobilities, entangled borders, microhistory and space, human and nonhuman actors, and the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad, Jan Musekamp demonstrates how the Ostbahn transformed an inner-Prussian railroad line into a transnational force, overcoming borders and connecting Europeans in a time of rising nationalism.
Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands investigates the dichotomy between a globalizing world and tighter border control in nineteenth century east-central Europe, focusing on the Royal Prussian Eastern Railroad (Koeniglich-Preussische Ostbahn) between the 1830s and 1930s. It was originally planned as a major internal modernizing project to connect its capital of Berlin to East Prussia's provincial capital of Koenigsberg (today's Kaliningrad) and from there to a growing Imperial Russian railroad network. The First World War temporarily disrupted and subsequently reconfigured existing networks, adapting them to new political regimes and borders. However, World War II and its aftermath altered mobility patterns more permanently, dividing not only the Ostbahn tracks but the whole continent for decades to come.
From border towns and major cities to unique structures, such as stations or bridges, this volume analyzes the obvious and not-so-obvious nodes of the east-central Europe rail network--and the spaces in between.
Industry Reviews
"Jan Musekamp skillfully tells the fascinating story of a multidimensional transportation corridor created by the railroad. He shows how technical revolution, railroad construction, and nation-state formation led to the industrialization of time and the production of a larger European space. He explains the transformation of the borderlands, the significance of trade and commerce, and how the architecture of railroad bridges combined international engineering know-how with the desire to advance certain historical narratives. The book highlights the dual nature of the railroad as a vehicle for social mobility and military mobilization, and the railroad's contribution to the expansion of transatlantic migration and the rise of modern mass tourism. In sum, this masterful book accomplishes nothing less than capturing the creation of a multidimensional space in Europe - a space that would be ruined in the catastrophes of the twentieth century."-Karl Schloegel, author of The Soviet Century "Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands is an exemplary blending of the histories of transnationalism, nationalism, culture, technology, and mobility. Drawing on conventional historical sources in five different languages, rail schedules, architectural and engineering plans, tourist guidebooks, and the memoirs of famous and ordinary people, the book uses seemingly nondescript railway towns and structures to provide groundbreaking insights into the transit points where different sorts of people have crossed political and social boundaries in the past two centuries. It is a significant contribution to the history of transnational migration."-Timothy H. Parsons, coeditor of Mapping Migration, Identity, and Space "This book is important for its multi-faceted analysis of the politics, economics, and cultural forces driving the crucial innovation in modern travel in the nineteenth century. Railroad funding, the iconography of stations and bridges, anti-Semitism and anti-Polish politics, and the price of lentils all play a role. Musekamp thus offers an extraordinary depth to the history of mobility, politics, economics, culture, and migration in northeastern Europe."-Leslie Page Moch, author of Moving Europeans
