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The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, The Second Scientific Revolution, And The Twentieth Century (2010)

by Peter Watson(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0060760222 (ISBN13: 9780060760229)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper

review 1: I bought this on a caffeine high at the Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio. The main thesis of this 856 page tome is that there is more to German culture than Hitler. It was interesting to learn more about Von Humboldt, Carl Gauss, Hoelderlin, and Marx, but there were many subjects that only piqued my interest, which may be part of the point of this book: to realize that the Germans really had something going on in science and art. That said, Watson does give a fair amount of attention to the dark side of German thinking that led to the Third Reich. Would have liked to have learned more about the post-1945 German world, but this is a good survey of German culture and science, if you are interested in gaining a working knowledge for party tricks!
review 2: Somewhere al... moreong the line after writing the introduction and title, Watson forgot his mission to explain how Germany became a dominant economic European country after 1945. Chapter 1 starts with year 1747. Not to be deterred, I waded through 713 pages to get to post-WWII. I took note of priests, architects, musicians and scientists. The changes in thought leading up to 1938 are useful, and answered lots of questions for me. Watson is an English journalist with an academic bent hoping to educate all--he writes beautifully. This was recommended to me by a German architect. Once I gave up my desire to learn about government, industry, culture and changes in Germany over the last 50 years, I really enjoyed this book. less

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