Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- Chapter 2 Trauma and Its Consequences -- 2.1 A History of Trauma Psychology -- 2.2 Trauma Studies in the Humanities -- 2.3 What Is Trauma? -- 2.4 Literary Production and Trauma Therapy -- Chapter 3 Confronting the Past? The Role of Guilt and Shame in Postwar Germany -- 3.1 The End of the War: Facing Complete Destruction -- 3.2 Constructing a Past and a Future: The Adenauer Era -- 3.3 Constructing a German Identity Before and After Unification -- Chapter 4 The View from Within: The Air War in German Writing -- 4.1 Early Reactions: Hans Erich Nossack, Wolfgang Borchert, and Gert Ledig -- 4.2 Mosaics of Horror: Alexander Kluge and Walter Kempowski -- 4.3 The Individual, Trauma and History: Dieter Forte -- 4.4 W. G. Sebald and the Air War-Taboo -- Chapter 5 A Welcome Catastrophe: Jewish-German Voices -- 5.1 Werner Schmidt -- 5.2 Victor Klemperer -- 5.3 Wolf Biermann -- 5.4 Günter Kunert -- Chapter 6 International Reactions to the Bombings -- 6.1 Kurt Vonnegut -- 6.2 Harry Mulisch -- 6.3 Henri Coulonges -- Chapter 7 Conclusion -- Works Cited -- Index.