HESSEN

also called Hesse, Land (state) of Germany, eighth largest of the 16 Lnder, occupying an area of 8,152 square miles (21,114 square km) in the west-central part of that country. Hessen is bounded by the states of Lower Saxony (north), North Rhine-Westphalia (northwest), Rhineland-Palatinate (west), Baden-Wrttemberg (south), Bavaria (southeast), and Thuringia (east). The state lies between the Upper Rhine Plateau to the west and the Thuringian Forest to the east. It was formed in 1945 through the amalgamation of former Prussian provincial units. Its capital is Wiesbaden. Additional reading Little material specifically on Hessen is in English. An exhaustive bibliography of ancient to contemporary works is in Schrifttum zur Geschichte und geschichtlichen Landeskunde von Hessen, ed. by Karl E. Demandt, 3 vol. (1965-68); see also the same author's Geschichte des Landes Hessen (1959). A more elementary but useful history of the postwar Land and its predecessor states is Kurt Finke, Hessen: Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (1970). A firsthand account of the early postwar period appears in Dexter L. Freeman, Hesse: A New German State (1948). The standard geography series Harms Landeskunde devotes vol. 1, ed. by Julius Wagner, to Hessen (1961). Detailed information on Hessen's population, economy, political structure, judiciary, education, and modern historical development are given in a series of volumes of the Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, Wiesbaden. For a handy ready-reference with abundant information, see the Hessenlexikon (1965). A well-illustrated, informative treatment of the Hessian economy appears in Hessen um Rhein und Main, 2nd ed. by Klaus Erhr. von Verschuer (1966). Hessen's lead in reform of primary and secondary education is covered in Robert Geipel, Bildungsplanung und Raumordnung (1968); health and social care are discussed in the Hessisches Sozialministerium, Heute fr Morgen: Hessens Gesundheits- und Sozialwesen (1970). Aspects of Hessian ethnology are dealt with in Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann, Volksleben in Hessen (1970).