Literature has testified in a multitude of different ways, to the personal and political consequences of wars. Against the background of their own personal or professional experiences, the contributors to this volume examine literature in relation to the development of political awareness.With contributions by Wolfgang Benz on Bertha von Suttner, Joe Enoch on violence in sport, Hartmut Hoefer on Hermann Hesse, Christoph Kleemann on Alexander Moritz Frey, Stefan Lüddemann on W.G. Sebald, Lioba Meyer on Philip Roth, Reinhold Mokrosch on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Heinrich Placke on Gil Courtemanche, Wolfgang Schlott on Jacques Rivière, Todor Todorovic on the media in the Yugoslavian civil war and Tilman Westphalen on Erich Maria Remarque.