Germany: Memories of a Nation - Hardcover

MacGregor, Dr Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241008336 ISBN 13: 9780241008331

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2014

Synopsis

From Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany like no other

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 now understand themselves?

Neil MacGregor argues that uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly floated. Königsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 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. Beginning with the fifteenth-century invention of modern printing by Gutenberg, MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places which 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.

About this title

Review:

Neil MacGregor is our greatest cultural polymath ... an excellent book ... Anyone who wants to understand Germany should read this (Antony Beevor Observer)

His method is memory. His way in is through objects and people, places and buildings ... MacGregor knows unerringly which objects to select and which chapters of Germany's 'enrichingly and confusingly fragmented history' to bring to life through them ... This book is immaculately researched, timely and important (Rebecca K Morrison Independent)

This impassioned project will bear the scrutiny it invites ... Germany: Memories of a Nation is deeply felt, carefully conceived and an important addition to any consideration of the shape not only of modern Germany but of Europe as a whole (Economist)

Magnificently illustrated and superbly edited ... It's hard to imagine a method more successful than MacGregor's - the careful juxtaposition of singular objects with their surrounding history - for conveying the complexities of Germany's continuing journey away from its past (Miranda Seymour Telegraph)

MacGregor ... dips and weaves from one entity to another ... It is an enjoyable, switchback ride - we never know where we are going next (Peter Watson The Times)

Book Description:

A major new series from the makers of A History Of The World In 100 Objects, exploring the fascinating and complex history of Germany from the origins of the Holy Roman Empire right up to the present day.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0241008336
• ISBN 13: 9780241008331
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 640