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Germany Dr Neil MacGregor

Germany By Dr Neil MacGregor

Germany by Dr Neil MacGregor


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Summary

How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves? 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.

Germany Summary

Germany: Memories of a Nation by Dr Neil MacGregor

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. Koenigsberg, 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.

Germany Reviews

From sausages and porcelain to the glory days of Bauhaus, MacGregor has produced a dazzling history that goes far beyond the stereotypes of Nazis, forests and leather shorts. The illustrations alone - the glittering interior of Aachen Cathedral, the engravings of Albrecht Durer - make you want to jump on the first flight to Berlin -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *
Unfailingly interesting and stimulating ... the book succeeds triumphantly -- Richard J Evans * TLS *

About Dr Neil MacGregor

Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery, London from 1987 to 2002 and of the British Museum from 2002 to 2015, and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin from 2015 to 2018. His previous books include A History of the World in 100 Objects, Shakespeare's Restless World and Germany: Memories of a Nation, all available in Penguin and now between them translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2010, he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the UK's highest civil honour. In 2015 he was awarded the Goethe Medal and the German National Prize. In 2018 the radio series Living with the Gods received the Sandford Saint Martin Award for Religious Broadcasting.

Additional information

GOR008109259
9780141979786
014197978X
Germany: Memories of a Nation by Dr Neil MacGregor
Used - Like New
Paperback
Penguin Books Ltd
2016-04-07
624
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
The book has been read, but looks new. The book cover has no visible wear, and the dust jacket is included if applicable. No missing or damaged pages, no tears, possible very minimal creasing, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins

Customer Reviews - Germany