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
About this listen
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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With Frye as our raconteur-guide, we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed - to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone and with them effectively divide humanity: On one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves - rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America....
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A boom that will transform how you view all of history.
- By BB on 08-04-24
By: David Frye
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Rome
- By: Matthew Kneale
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Rome, the Eternal City. Today visitors can stand on bridges that Julius Caesar and Cicero crossed; walk around temples in the footsteps of emperors; visit churches from the earliest days of Christianity. This is all the more remarkable considering what the city has endured. It has been ravaged by fires, floods, earthquakes, and - most of all - by roving armies. Matthew Kneale uses seven of these crisis moments to create a powerful and captivating account of Rome’s extraordinary history. He paints portraits of the city before each assault, describing how Romans, both rich and poor, lived their everyday lives.
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Lack of language skills an irritation
- By lmc on 07-16-18
By: Matthew Kneale
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SPQR
- A History of Ancient Rome
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.
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Shallow and unsatisfying
- By Joe on 02-19-17
By: Mary Beard
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Amsterdam
- A History of the World's Most Liberal City
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam, showing how such disparate elements as herring anatomy, naked Anabaptists parading through the streets, and an intimate gathering in a 16th-century wine-tasting room had a profound effect on Dutch - and world - history. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually engaging story of Amsterdam from its golden age to the present.
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Worth Reading - Highly Recommended
- By Whit B on 05-12-14
By: Russell Shorto
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Germany: Memories of a Nation
- By: Neil MacGregor
- Narrated by: Neil MacGregor
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental Europe. Thirty years ago, a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves? Neil MacGregor argues that uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany's history can be constructed, for in Germany, both geography and history have always been unstable.
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Engaging and Informative
- By William on 06-15-24
By: Neil MacGregor
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Venice
- Pure City
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The Venetians' language and way of thinking set them aside from the rest of Italy. They are an island people, linked to the sea and to the tides rather than the land. This latest work from the incomparable Peter Ackroyd, like a magic gondola, transports its listeners to that sensual and surprising city. His account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges, and sunlit squares, the churches and the markets, the festivals and the flowers.
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An endless droning list.....
- By jack on 03-15-11
By: Peter Ackroyd
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Natasha's Dance
- A Cultural History of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
By: Orlando Figes
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The Bloody White Baron
- The Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia
- By: James Palmer
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the history of the modern world, there have been few characters more sadistic, sinister, and deeply demented as Baron Ungern-Sternberg. An anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, Baron Ungern-Sternberg took over Mongolia in 1920 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese, and native Mongolians.
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Truth is stranger than fiction
- By David on 01-21-10
By: James Palmer
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In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
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Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
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1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
- By: Charles Emerson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features last summers in grand aristocratic residences or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans.
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Good book ruined by bad read
- By GANESHi on 08-02-13
By: Charles Emerson
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The Germans and Europe
- A Personal Frontline History
- By: Peter Millar
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on a lifetime living in and reporting on Germany and Central Europe, award-winning journalist and author Peter Millar tackles the fascinating and complex story of the people at the heart of our continent. Focussing on nine cities (only six of which are in the Germany of today), he takes us on a zigzag ride back through time via the fall of the Berlin Wall through the horrors of two world wars and the patchwork states of the Middle Ages to the splendour of Charlemagne and the fall of Rome.
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One of the best books I have listened to on here
- By Shaun on 05-17-18
By: Peter Millar
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In London in the Time of Dickens, you’ll get the unique opportunity to experience the British capital through the eyes of a literary master whose work is inextricably tied to the city and its rich history. Throughout 12 lectures taught by Professor Lillian Nayder of Bates College, you’ll tour the city of London in a time of rapid transformation through the life and work of Charles Dickens, uncovering the history of the metropolis, while also witnessing the everyday experiences of Londoners from all walks of life as Dickens represents them.
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Beginning with the death of Stalin in 1953, the "sixties" era in the Soviet Union was just as vibrant and transformative as in the West. The ideological romanticism of the revolutionary years was revived, with renewed emphasis on egalitarianism, equality, and the building of a communist utopia. Mass terror was reined in, great victories were won in the space race, Stalinist cultural dogmas were challenged, and young people danced to jazz and rock and roll. Robert Hornsby examines this remarkable and surprising period.
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Germany is a relatively young nation-state. United in 1871, it's even younger than the United States. However, the territories inhabited by the Germanic people have a rich history that reaches far back in prehistory and antiquity. Located in the heart of Europe, Germany witnessed centuries of conflicts, immigration, and negotiations. Consequently, its shape, size, and ethnicity changed throughout history. The territories which constitute Germany today were often war zones, and at times they would join forces against a common enemy or break apart due to internal conflicts.
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political slant at the end ruined it.
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Death of the Wehrmacht
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From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions.
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Lucidity!
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Heart of Europe
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Overall
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The Holy Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, far longer than ancient Rome. Yet this formidable dominion never inspired the awe of its predecessor. Voltaire quipped that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Yet as Peter H. Wilson shows, the Holy Roman Empire tells a millennial story of Europe better than the histories of individual nation-states.
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Mixed feelings on this one.
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By: Peter H. Wilson
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Poland
- The First Thousand Years
- By: Patrice M. Dabrowski
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.
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Easy listen.
- By Pieter Reyneke on 01-11-23
What listeners say about Germania
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Simone
- 08-24-19
50 / 50
I am having a love-hate relationship with this book.
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.
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- Herr
- 06-05-19
You’re going to have to work to enjoy
He’s very witty and very present in German cultures but makes so many in-jokes that Dennis Miller would probably rage quit at times. But if you bother to look up the places and people, it’s very rewarding.
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- SPC
- 10-26-19
Superb tour of Germany
It's not often a history book stops you in your tracks because you're laughing so hard, this book did it more times than should be possible.
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.
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- sy
- 07-12-24
wry
author takes tour of unfamiliar Germany past and present with a wonderful dry, wry sense of humor
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- lola work
- 09-21-19
Great book
This is one of those truly rare books that takes a vast and often entangled history and not only untangles it but does it in an enjoyable and highly readable way. Kudos to Simon Winder
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- Tara K. Morrison
- 04-11-21
entertaining, full of good nuggets
enjoyed this but don't expect a linear history. also love the british accent but his pacing is odd. still, would recommend if you like history with unhidden personal opinions.
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- CC
- 06-09-22
Good listen
Started out a bit too snarky, especially compared to Danubia. But seemed to relax into his normal enjoyable level of Brit humor. Interesting travel/history.
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- Daynas
- 10-28-18
Bravo!
An eclectic and somewhat eccentric look at German history. German history is not a easy topic to summarize in a book. It’s a history that is complicated and, let’s face it, somewhat dour. The author does review this history of this fascinating country will humor that only an Englishman could do. This is not a Lonely Planet guide to Germany but it is a great to understanding the nuances of Germany. A great piece of work.
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- Sastelise
- 02-18-20
Brilliant if you can tolerate a sardonic tone
This is the way history should be written by historians: Without any pretensions of absolute objectivity, interspersed with travelogue and anecdotes that have informed the writer’s interpretation of history, and with a good dose of humor. Some may find the author’s wit, conveyed with excellence by the narrator, off-putting, perhaps even offensive. At times Winder comes across as derisive enough that I had to wonder whether he has any love for Germany at all. But his tone is consistent in descriptions of other countries as well. I advise listeners to take the tone with a grain of salt, embracing the parts you like and ignoring the parts you find irritating. I’m with you, Winder, in your obsession over cabinets of curiosities and your observations about solo traveling! I’m not with you in your dismissiveness of entire cities and regions because Nazis used to occupy them and your all too stereotypical descriptions of beer halls. Overall I found the listening experience, to use Winder’s favorite word, fun. Dry history is enlivened by the author’s personal approach and style. This is the rare audiobook that I want to read at some point. I look forward to listening to (and eventually reading) the subsequent books by Winder in this series on Germany.
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- Monty and Button
- 10-08-20
Informative and humorous
This is one of the best Audibles I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Simon Winder is an amazing writer and coupled with J.C. Stewart’s narration, Germania is an amazing book, meant for intelligent people with a dry sense of humor.
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