The Goethe Yearbook is published by the Goethe Society of North America, founded in 1980 to promote the study of Johann Wolfang von Goethe and his contemporaries, the so-called 'Goethezeit'. Originally conceived as a vehicle to present original English-language Goethe scholarship during the period of Cold War political tensions, when the most prestigious Goethe publication, the Goethe Jahrbuch, was not open to most Western scholars, the Goethe Yearbook has quickly become established in the international community, publishing articles in both English and German from academics around the world; it includes an extensive book review section.