Germany in the World, David Blackbourn
Germany in the World, David Blackbourn
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Germany in the World
A Global History, 1500-2000

Author: David Blackbourn

Narrator: Peter Noble

Unabridged: 36 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/24/2023


Synopsis

Brilliantly conceived and majestically written, this monumental work of European history recasts the five-hundred-year history of Germany.

With Germany in the World, award-winning historian David Blackbourn radically revises conventional narratives of German history, demonstrating the existence of a distinctly German presence in the world centuries before its unification—and revealing a national identity far more complicated than previously imagined. Blackbourn traces Germany's evolution from the loosely bound Holy Roman Empire of 1500 to a sprawling colonial power to a twenty-first-century beacon of democracy. Viewed through a global lens, familiar landmarks of German history—the Reformation, the Revolution of 1848, the Nazi regime—are transformed, while others are unearthed and explored, as Blackbourn reveals Germany's leading role in creating modern universities and its sinister involvement in slave-trade economies. A global history for a global age, Germany in the World is a bold and original account that upends the idea that a nation's history should be written as though it took place entirely within that nation's borders.

About David Blackbourn

David Blackbourn is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History at Vanderbilt University. The author of seven books, including Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary and The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany, he lives in Nashville, Tennessee.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on August 17, 2023

This book is well conceived and I was attracted to it by good press reviews. Although I learned a lot from it, I was disappointed. Several sections meander seemingly endlessly through the material, while other things are barely addressed at all - such as the role of Germany in creating the EU. Stran......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on September 11, 2024

While I learned a lot of interesting facts from this book, it was nearly impossible for me to read it for more than 30 minutes at a time without needing to break from the tedium; I rarely returned for more right afterwards. I felt like every phenomenon (e.g. exemplary medical science in 1890s German......more

Goodreads review by Denis on October 15, 2023

This book is easy and exciting to read for me the issue is, it's about everything, that has connection to Germany, but such a wide range doesn't let it to be a story. It's like an encyclopedia or a collection of facts about everything german. I must admit it is a good starting point, if you want to......more