Customer Reviews

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Germany (Cambridge Illustrated Histories)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The latest addition to the outstanding "Cambridge Illustrated History" series, Martin Kitchen's Germany presents a lavishly illustrated, integrated, chronological history of Germany from the era of Charlemagne down through the end of the twentieth century and German reunification. Here is a compendium of the culture, society, political organization, national tragedies and personal triumphs of the German people. Special illustrated boxes and panels enrich the informative, "reader friendly" text throughout and provides a superbly presented, single volume history that is a welcome addition to academic and community library world history collections.

I had to use this book for a class on German history. Although it was not required material for the class, the wealth of information helped me keep a handle of the flow of the nation's history. This book is rich in pictures and is one of the best books that I have ever seen on German history. Highly recomended.

This text should not be demoted to decorating a living room's coffee table because of its "Cambridge" denomination and fancy pictures. Some of these "decoration" books do contain excellent write ups. Ignoring Mr. Kitchen's dissertation on the history of Germany would be at your own peril if you own the book already and, except for martini stains and dust, choose to ignore it. This history of Germany explains in a fascinatingly succint style key aspects of the German nation and German ethos: the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution and, inevitably, the Third Reich and the Holocaust. There are excellent art and culture sections describing anything from Goethe's Romantic world and the Grimm Brothers' fantastic tales to the Bauhaus. If you want to own a book to impress your friends, buy it, but buy it mostly to be impressed by it.

So I've read only first few dozen pages - I'm up to around 1100 - but so far I find this history hard to follow. The author seems to have a real "can't see (or describe) forest for the trees" problem. The prime example I can cite at this point: He was going on and on about the doings of Charlemagne and his successors, but he's hardly (if at all) pointed out that he's describing the Holy Roman Empire. Luckily, the scant knowledge of German history I brought to the table was enough to plant those trees in a forest, but who knows what else I'm missing. Maybe a certain "broad brush" understanding of German history is presumed here, and I'm out of my league. If you're like me, though, I suggest you think twice about making this your introduction to this nation's story.

The sidebars, illustrations, and featurettes are generally interesting diversions from the main thread. They often appear on a page "before" the point in the main thread that they relate to, though. This has confused me a couple times already.

This would be a great way for the student to get into German history with little or no prior knowledge. It's very comprehensive, for one thing, and the many color illustrations really brighten up the pages. With a lot of history textbooks, the pictures are pretty much the standard thing, showing you the people, battles, political events, etc. that you expect to see. This book is always surprising. For example, on the facing pages 104-105, there is at left a beautiful old color print of the harbor at Frankfurt, and at right a Durer of two hands praying. Most unusual, I think. found the index very helpful, too, when I needed to look up a fact.

I have had a copy of this in my library since it came available, but lost it and had to replace it. It is one that I highly recommend for anyone wanting a straighforward general history of Germany. This is not the detailed, footnoted history, but one that anyone can pick up and find something that will fascinate them. Worth having in the library.