There is no attempt
here to write a full review. The main point of this post is to
recommend the book - “Germany: Memories of a Nation” by Neil
MacGregor.
I suppose I have
studied some German history every year since I was first introduced
to Luther and to Charles V in 1965. Then there was the Thirty Years
War and the Great Elector. At university I was lucky enough to have Vivian Fisher teach me about Charlemagne and
Norman Stone introduce me to the Habsburg Empire, and to serious work
on the Third Reich. As a teacher I gave more than three decades to
eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century Germany. So I guess I
was as well up in German History as you would expect a school teacher
to be.
Then I heard Neil
MacGregor on the radio talking about Germany chapter by chapter, and
I knew I had to read the book. It took nearly two years before I got
hold of it in the library, but at last I have finished it.
I found I did not
want to read more than a chapter at a time, so that each one of the
thirty made its impact. It might be sausages or art or war memorials
or Bismarck or the Holy Roman Empire. The breadth, the humanity, the
perception of the thinking is quite exceptional. This is one of the
best history books I have read since I retired. I wish it had been
written while I was teaching. I recommend it warmly.
