The point of this book is not to press for a paradigm shift, replacing one master narrative with another:from nation state to transnational networks; from national to global German history; from a focus on state-sponsored violence in the last three centuries to economically formidable and inclusive diasporic communities.Rather, the goal is to open up space for multiple narratives that we can harness as analytical tools to help us better understand people’s actions and motivations in particular historical situations. That requires greater integration of mobilities, migration flows, and pluralities of belonging into our narratives of Germans’ histories.