“Comparing Apples and Oranges?” The History of Early Prisons in Germany and the United States, 1800-1860

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Comparative history is a much debated field and it does not attract only positive comments and warm recommendations. The late Cologne historian Erich Angermann warned that comparative history requires more than just access to the right information about two societies or periods, and his warnings are echoed in the debate on comparative history in its modern guise, that is, the…