The German century

By Michael Stürmer, Franziska Payer, Sarah Jackson

Book Overview

For the best part of the 20th century, Germany has either united the world in anger or driven it apart. Its late appearance on the European scene in 1871 might have been expected it to keep it in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760718792
• ISBN13: 9780760718797
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

“The Grape harvest above the Rhine” 1936 [photo: Max Ehlert].

Picture Research by Sarah Jackson and Franziska Payre. What at first glance looks like a coffee table book turns out to be a comprehensive look at “The German Century” told mostly in pictures. Many of the pictures are obtained from various museums and magazines and show a different but familiar view of Germany. Many of the photos look like family albums, such as the one of Queen Victoria sitting in Coburg with her eldest daughter Vicky. As the book progresses chronologically, we see the information of the UFA years with pictures of Marlene Dietrich, and movies such as “Metropolis” (1926). There are pictures and quick descriptions of Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Albert Einstein, and Tomas Mann. Even the familiar picture of Lotte Lenya in the “Dreigroschenoper” era. There is a small section on Leni Riefenstahl and the 1936 Olympics. On page 190 is the picture from the front cover, only a lot clearer. Again, as we progress through time, there are pictures of the Berlin airlift and the famous one of the 19-year-old East German border guard (Conrad Schumann) escaping to the west over barbed wire. Just when you think it is becoming a stuffy history book, we swing back to the arts with information on and pictures of Claudia Schiffer and Nastassja Kinski. This book has a little something for everyone and neatly ties it together.