
Germania
In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History
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Narrated by:
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James Cameron Stewart
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By:
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Simon Winder
Sitting on a bench at a communal table in a restaurant in Regensburg, his plate loaded with disturbing amounts of bratwurst and sauerkraut made golden by candlelight shining through a massive glass of beer, Simon Winder was happily swinging his legs when a couple from Rottweil politely but awkwardly asked, "So, why are you here"? This audiobook is an attempt to answer that question.
Why spend time wandering around a country that remains a sort of dead zone for many foreigners, surrounded as it is by a force field of historical, linguistic, climatic, and gastronomic barriers?
Winder's audiobook is propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant, chaotic, endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined, and that, since 1945, so many Germans have worked to rebuild. Germania is a very funny audiobook on serious topics: how we are misled by history, how we twist history, and how sometimes it is best to know no history at all. It is a audiobook full of curiosities, odd food, castles, mad princes, fairy tales, and horse-mating videos. It is about the limits of language, the meaning of culture, and the pleasure of townscape.
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James Cameron Stewart is a glorious narrator. I have loved him for 15 years in his role as narrator for the Economist audio edition. Here, he brings warmth and humor to the thoroughly enjoyable text.
I love it! I hope you do, too.
Yours,
Jamie
A brilliant, hilarious love letter to Germany
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I love the droll, witty, almost sarcastic tone of the book; it’s fantastic!… but the narration is on and off. Yes a dry English narrator is a perfect fit, but he pauses in weird places and sometimes all sentences feel like declarations.
I love all the touristy leads I am getting for my next trip to Germany… but there are so many and I am not retaining ANYTHING
ARGH! I think this is one of those books one must re-read multiple times to truly absorb.
50 / 50
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You’re going to have to work to enjoy
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A superb mix of anecdotes, self deprecation and insight, wrapped up in a remarkable method of making history fun and entertaining.
I wish Winder wrote children's books, in fact I wish Winder was in charge of all history teaching period.
More than the other parts of the series, the authors' love hate relationship with German history comes through and I occasionally found myself cringing at the too frequent references to Nazism, but these moments pass quickly.
Perhaps the most I can say is that Winder is the type of person who could turn 6 hour delay on public transport into a joy if you were lucky enough to be sitting next to him.
Superb tour of Germany
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wry
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Great book
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entertaining, full of good nuggets
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Good listen
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Bravo!
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Brilliant if you can tolerate a sardonic tone
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