A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People - Hardcover

Ozment, Steven E.; Beaver, Adam G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0066209250 ISBN 13: 9780066209258

Publisher: Harpercollins, 2004

Synopsis

A history of Germany examines the links between ancient times and the twentieth century and discusses the prevalence of a defining German culture through multiple centuries, early achievements, and relations with other lands.

About this title

Review:

"Clever and fascinating." -- The Chicago Tribune

"Insightful. . . . Persuasive. . . . Remarkable." -- First Things

Clever and fascinating. --The Chicago Tribune

"A masterly synthesis. (It) fizzes with bold hypotheses and subtle allusions. A heroic feat of scholarship."--The New Criterion

"Clever and fascinating."--The Chicago Tribune

"Brilliant. A highly stimulating book and a pleasure to read, combining serious scholarship with verve and good storytelling."--The Washington Times

"Insightful. . . . Persuasive. . . . Remarkable."--First Things

"Readable and absorbing. An enjoyable and well-done work that is ideal for the general reader."--Booklist

Readable and absorbing. An enjoyable and well-done work that is ideal for the general reader. --Booklist"

Brilliant. A highly stimulating book and a pleasure to read, combining serious scholarship with verve and good storytelling. --The Washington Times"

Synopsis:

From one of our most distinguished historians comes a sweeping, original, and provocative history of Germany, from antiquity to the present, shedding a fresh, empathetic light on the nation and its people. A Mighty Fortress is a work of penetrating, virtuoso scholarship that holds a mirror to an entire civilization - - one that has been alternately Western Europe's most successful and most perilous. It boldly examines Germany's tumultuous twentieth century in light of its earliest achievements as a prosperous, civil, and moral society, tracing a line of continuity that began in ancient times and has endured through the ages, despite its enemies and itself. The book tells the story of the well-known men -- Luther, Kant, and Beethoven, Marx, Bismarck, and Hitler -- to the masses of ordinary Germans. The Germans are a people who desire national unity, yet have always kept themselves from it by aligning with autocratic territorial governments and regional cultures.

Indeed, Germans living centuries apart have shared in different ways a common defining experience that is unique to their culture: a convergence of external provocation, wounded pride, and an unusual ability to exercise great power in response to both. Ozment captures the soul of a nation that is at once ordered and chaotic, disciplined and obsessive, proud and uncertain. Epic in scope, refreshing in its insights, and written with nuance, acumen, and verve, it presents the history of the German people as the story of humanity writ large.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0066209250
• ISBN 13: 9780066209258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416