• Germany: Memories of a Nation

  • By: Neil MacGregor
  • Narrated by: Neil MacGregor
  • Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

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Germany: Memories of a Nation  By  cover art

Germany: Memories of a Nation

By: Neil MacGregor
Narrated by: Neil MacGregor
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Publisher's summary

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. 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 last 500 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 30 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 15th-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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A good "listen"

The only thing wrong with this is that it is designed to be a tour of German art and history together. Though vivid descriptive language is used, I found myself needing to Google the artifacts again and again. Yes, I would recommend this audiobook for its historical value, but if one really wants a more complete experience, purchase the book or borrow it from a library. I believe there may be some videos associated with it as well, available through BBC.

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