Germania: A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern

Synopsis

Sitting On A Bench At A Communal Table In A Restaurant In Regensburg, His Plate Loaded With Disturbing Amounts Of Bratwurst And Sauerkraut Made Golden By Candlelight Shining Through A Massive Glass Of Beer, Simon Winder Was Happily Swinging His Legs When A Couple From Rottweil Politely But Awkwardly Asked: Excuse Me: But Why Are You Here? This Book Is An Attempt To Answer That Question. Why Spend So Much Time Wandering Around A Country That Remains A Sort Of Dead Zone For Many Foreigners, Surrounded As It Is By A Force Field Of Historical, Linguistic, Climatic, And Gastronomic Barriers? Winder's Book Is Propelled By A Wish To Reclaim The Brilliant, Chaotic, Endlessly Varied German Civilization That The Nazis Buried And Ruined, And That, Since 1945, So Many Germans Have Worked To Rebuild. Germania Is A Very Funny Book On Serious Topics - How We Are Misled By History, How We Twist History, And How Sometimes It Is Best To Know No History At All. It Is A Book Full Of Curiosities: Odd Food, Castles, Mad Princes, Fairy Tales, And Horse-mating Videos. It Is About The Limits Of Language, The Meaning Of Culture, And The Pleasure Of Townscape.--jacket. Simon Winder. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [443]-450) And Index.