The focus of much of Stern's work is attempting to track the development of the rise of National Socialism in Germany and its characteristics. Stern has traced the origins of Nazism back to the 19th century
völkische movement. In Stern's opinion, the virulently anti-Semitic
völkische movement was the result of the "politics of cultural despair" experienced by German intellectuals who were unable to come to grips with modernity. However, Stern rejects the
Sonderweg interpretation of German history. In his view, the ideas of the
völkische movement were merely a "dark undercurrent" in 19th century German society. In the 1990s, Stern was a leading critic of the controversial American author Daniel Goldhagen, whose book
Hitler's Willing Executioners Stern denounced as unscholarly and full of Germanophobia.
Another major area of research for Stern has been the history of the Jewish community in Germany and how the Jewish culture influenced German culture and vice-versa. In Stern's view, this interaction produced what Stern has often called the "Jewish-German symbiosis". In Stern’s view, the best example of the "Jewish-German symbiosis" was Albert Einstein.
Main works
- The Politics of Cultural Despair (1963) – This was Stern's dissertation which focused on three major figures in the rise of illiberalism, Paul de Lagarde, Julius Langbehn, and Arthur Moeller van den Bruck.
- The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (1970) – A collection of writings from various people, gathered together and edited by Stern, to give a survey of historiography from the eighteenth century to the twentieth.
- Gold and Iron (1977) – A book centered around Gerson Bleichröder, the personal banker and friend of the other subject of the book, Otto von Bismarck. Through the two men Stern tracks the development of the uneasy relationship between Jews and Gentiles in late nineteenth century Germany.
- The Failure of Illiberalism (1973) and Dreams and Delusions (1987) – Both books are collections of essays and transcribed speeches concerning 19th and 20th century Germany.