Abgebrochene Forschung

Heinz Duchhardt sets out nine case studies from the first two thirds of the twentieth century to investigate the abandonment of historical research projects, and, specifically, first volumes that were never followed by the second ones announced by their creators. As far as the available source material allows, Duchhardt asks why these scholars left what was usually their most important work unfinished - and how they felt about leaving such torsos and breaking their promises. The topic of unwritten monographs provides original and unconventional insight into the workings of twentieth century academia, the conditions that existed and the sensitivities of renowned authors, who often lost touch with their agendas in the first third of the century due to systemic upheaval, but whose failures also had other reasons.