Four Germanys

A Chronicle of the Schorcht Family

De: Donald S. Pitkin

Narrado por: Kevin Meyer

In this last book by the late Donald Pitkin comes a story of the Schorcht family, through whose fortunes and struggles one can see the transformations of Germany through the long 20th century.

Each chapter of Four Germanys is reflective of generational rather than historical time. In 1922, Edwin Schorcht inherited his family farm, and in part one, Pitkin traces the derivation of this farmstead. Part two focuses on Schorcht's children who came of age in Hitler's Germany. Part three has the Schorchts growing up in the Ulbricht years (1950-1973) of the German Democratic Republic. The book concludes with the great-granddaughter, Maria, looking back to the past in relation to the new Germany that history had bequeathed her.

Ultimately, Four Germanys reflects the impact of critical historical events on ordinary East Germans while it also reveals how one particular family managed its own historical adaptation to these events.

The book is published by Temple University Press.

©2016 Temple University-Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A real page-turner...an important case study."(Jane Schneider, City University of New York)

"A very readable, insightful examination...offers a very fresh and welcome perspective to readers interested in the social and political transformations of Europe in the twentieth century." (David Kertzer, Brown University)