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. Thirty 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 ...
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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. Thirty 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. K???nigsberg, 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 last five hundred years 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. ??? 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
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Add this copy of Germany: Memories of a Nation to cart. $2.89, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Penguin UK.
Add this copy of Germany: Memories of a Nation to cart. $2.89, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Penguin UK.
Add this copy of Germany: Memories of a Nation to cart. $2.89, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Penguin UK.
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Add this copy of Germany: Memories of a Nation to cart. $2.94, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Vintage.
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Neil MacGregor, the author of this book, at present the Director of the British Museum, previously published a book about world history seen through 100 objects. In this work, he presents German history through artefacts he has chosen. The individual reader may complain that some noteworthy subject has been overlooked but this is inevitable in a book of this kind. Going down MacGregor's memory lane, looking at the artefacts he has selected, for example, paintings and sculptures, is an enriching experience. Perhaps this is the way to teach history in schools and colleges - innovative, informative and educative but never boring.
The illustrations are superb and MacGregor's eminently readable writing style is devoid of the chronological approach that many historians employ, which, to me, is the charm and attraction of this work. One can go backwards and forwards, as one pleases; take one's time and begin again anywhere: Charlemagne; the famous Friedrichstrasse in Berlin, before and after the Berlin Wall; art and architecture; streets, squares and churches; the Brothers Grimm; Weimar; the history of the Volkswagen Beetle car; and much, much more. In the context of what is presented in this book, visiting any old or ancient square anywhere in the world could be an eye-opener historically.
Readng this book is like going on a long train journey. One looks out of the window at every station where the train stops and catches sight of something one has never seen before. When the train moves on, one is left wih the memory of what one has seen. The artefacts in this book are a reminder of what Germany has seen on the way to becoming what it is today.
