The Shortest History of Germany

As other reviewers have pointed out, a central thesis is the vast cultural and temperamental differences between east Germany (Prussia/Saxony), and west Germany. The author depicts the difference as similar to the north/south divide in the U.S., with the east German's being like southerners both historically (the Prussians were colonizers and ran huge agricultural estates), and politically, being dangerously nationalistic and anti NATO and EU. The blame for 20th century German aggression in the two world wars is put squarely on Prussia.

I don't know enough about the history of Germany to comment on the accuracy of this picture, but I won't fault the author for putting forth a thesis that may or may not be true (to the extent abstract historical reasoning like this can be “true”). I'm from the US south and am pretty used to the rest of the country dissing on the south and stereotyping it, and I'll be the first to admit the stereotype isn't entirely inaccurate. You shouldn't take it personally, of course, cause all stereotypes fall apart when applied to certain individuals and more information comes in. But, they can be meaningful statistically, and that is what he tries to demonstrate via voting patterns.

I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book more, up to WWI. The unification of Germany was particularly interesting. The parts on Germany's modern day politics I found less interesting. Overall a pretty good intro to German history. Only wish it went into more detail on medieval and early modern Germany.

Recommended

Clearly written, easy to follow, enjoyable to read. My one complaint is that the maps were nearly illegible because the font was minuscule and only supposedly-different shades of grey were used.