IN THE WAKE OF UNIFICATION, Germany suddenly became home to citizens who had previously belonged to two distinct German nations. At the same time, the end of the Cold War brought many immigrants from Eastern Europe, adding to the war refugees, asylum seekers, and foreign laborers who had comprised the immigrant population in previous decades. As a result, since the early 1990s more foreigners have been living in Germany than in any other European Union country (Green 83). Also since then, Germans have been grappling with issues of national and cultural identity—experiencing what it means, for example, to have an eastern or western German as their coworker, or a Russian, Turkish, Tunisian, Ghanaian, or other foreign-born resident as their neighbor. The confusion associated with living in a newly “unified” country that is also a land of immigration has been exacerbated by the nearly simultaneous acceleration of globalization. On the one hand, this development has been, according to Rüdiger Safranski, particularly welcome in Germany because of its promise of “refuge from a disagreeable nationalist past” (12). Yet with the collapse of social and political boundaries, globalization has also intensified identity issues for individuals who no longer feel secure about their membership in a certain class, race, or nation. Equally characteristic of a broad segment of German society in the 1990s and beyond is what Gerhard Schulze refers to in his book Die Erlebnisgesellschaft (The Experience Society, 2000) as “das Projekt des schönen Lebens” (35; the project/pursuit of the beautiful life). Whereas people used to work long and hard to meet external demands, protect themselves against nature's threats, acquire useful products, and achieve long-term goals, they now often have the luxury of pursuing experiences that will, if successful, give them immediate gratification while contributing to the type of life that enhances their self-concept. Schulze writes: “Jetzt kommt es darauf an, [das Leben] so zu verbringen, dass man das Gefühl hat, es lohne sich. Nicht das Leben an sich, sondern der Spaß daran ist das Kernproblem, das nun das Alltagshandeln strukturiert” (60; It [a successful life] now depends on living life in a way that allows one to feel it is worth it. Not life itself, but the fun that one can derive from it is the central problem that structures everyday activities).