{"id":24259,"count":14,"description":"Germany is one of the world\u2019s most stable democracies. It is also one of the world\u2019s richest. As such, it is the undisputed leader\u2014politically and economically\u2014of the European Union<\/a>. Notoriously, it wasn\u2019t always that way. The 20th century saw Germany defeated in two world wars, the disaster of Nazi rule and, after the Second World War,<\/a> the division of the country into East and West. Only in 1989 did the country emerge from the shadows of its 20th century catastrophe.\r\n\r\nWe have interviews that cover various aspects of Germany history. Professor Richard Evans talks us through the unification of Germany in 1870<\/a>. Hester Vaizey of Clare College, Cambridge chooses five books on modern German history<\/a>, focusing on the 20th century dictatorships\u2014both Nazi and Communist\u2014while Professor Robert Gerwarth looks at the Weimar Republic<\/a>. Reaching further back in time, Professor Peter Wilson picks his best books on the Thirty Years War<\/a>.\r\n\r\nGerwarth talks about the Weimar Republic\u2019s remarkable contribution to modern culture. Germany\u2019s cultural contribution to the world is explored elsewhere by Five Books. Thomas Mann's<\/a> works are recommended by a number of our interviewees, as are those of Kafka<\/a>, who wrote in German even if he was Czech. Goethe, widely regarded as Germany's greatest literary figure is discussed by David Wellbery<\/a>. Elsewhere, Jessica Duchen chooses her best books on Beethoven<\/a> and Andrew Gant looks at Handel<\/a>. On the philosophical front, we have interviews on Marx<\/a>, Nietzsche<\/a>, Schopenhauer<\/a>, Hegel<\/a>, Kant<\/a>, Hannah Arendt<\/a> and others.\r\n\r\nIf you're looking for contemporary German fiction Tyll<\/em><\/a>, by Daniel Kehlmann, was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize, with The Pine Islands<\/em><\/a> by Marion Poschmann shortlisted the previous year.","link":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/category\/world\/europe\/germany\/","name":"Germany","slug":"germany","taxonomy":"category","parent":5304,"meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/24259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/5304"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?categories=24259"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book?categories=24259"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/books_like_this?categories=24259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}