Germany

Memories of a Nation

Nonfiction, History, Germany, Modern
Cover of the book Germany by Neil MacGregor, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Neil MacGregor ISBN: 9781101875674
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: September 29, 2015
Imprint: Vintage Language: English
Author: Neil MacGregor
ISBN: 9781101875674
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: September 29, 2015
Imprint: Vintage
Language: English

For the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental europe. Twenty-five years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people understand themselves?

Neil MacGregor argues that, uniquely for any European country, no coherent, overarching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly shifted. Königsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Wolfgang von Geothe, Germany's greatest writer, discovered the distinctiveness of his country's art and history, now lies within the borders of France. For most of the five hundred years covered by this book Germany has been composed of many separate political units, each with a distinct history. And any comfortable national story Germans might have told themselves before 1914 was destroyed by the events of the following thirty years.

German history may be inherently fragmented, but it contains a large number of widely shared memories, awarenesses, and experiences; examining some of these is the purpose of this book. MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places that still resonate in the new Germany—porcelain from Dresden and rubble from its ruins, Bauhaus design and the German sausage, the crown of Charlemagne and the gates of Buchenwald—to show us something of its collective imagination. There has never been a book about Germany quite like it.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

For the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental europe. Twenty-five years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people understand themselves?

Neil MacGregor argues that, uniquely for any European country, no coherent, overarching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly shifted. Königsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Wolfgang von Geothe, Germany's greatest writer, discovered the distinctiveness of his country's art and history, now lies within the borders of France. For most of the five hundred years covered by this book Germany has been composed of many separate political units, each with a distinct history. And any comfortable national story Germans might have told themselves before 1914 was destroyed by the events of the following thirty years.

German history may be inherently fragmented, but it contains a large number of widely shared memories, awarenesses, and experiences; examining some of these is the purpose of this book. MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places that still resonate in the new Germany—porcelain from Dresden and rubble from its ruins, Bauhaus design and the German sausage, the crown of Charlemagne and the gates of Buchenwald—to show us something of its collective imagination. There has never been a book about Germany quite like it.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book Willa Cather On Writing by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book From the Holy Mountain by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Screening Room by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Bloody Williamson by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Felidia by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Salonica, City of Ghosts by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Impossible Vacation by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book The Colors of All the Cattle by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Sleeping on the Wing by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book The Streets Were Paved with Gold by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Climbing the Mango Trees by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Create Dangerously by Neil MacGregor
Cover of the book Dothead by Neil MacGregor
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy