Germany: The Long Road West

Vivid, succinct, and highly accessible, Heinrich Winkler's magisterial history of modern Germany offers the history of a nation and its people through two turbulent centuries. It is the story of a country that, while always culturally identified with the West, long resisted the political trajectories of its neighbours.This second and final volume begins at the point of the collapse of the first German democracy, and ends with the joining ofEast and West Germany in the reunification of 1990. Winkler offers a brilliant synthesis of complex events and illuminates them with fresh insights. He analyses the decisions that shaped the country'striumphs and catastrophes, interweaving high politics with telling vignettes about the German people and their own self-perception.The two volumes of Germany: The Long Road West, exploring the history of the German lands from the final days of the Holy Roman Empire to the very first of a reunified state in the late twentieth century, will be welcomed by scholars, students, and anyone wishing to understand a most complex and contradictory past.

“...destined to become a must-have for both scholars and students of German history. Combining skilful and fluent narrative with insightful analysis, his history of modern Germany presents the reader with a vivid and detailed picture of the German nation.”

Review from previous edition A masterpiece, providing a comprehensive and detailed analysis of Germany and the German nation from the Third Reich to reunification...an engaging magnum opus that will appeal to everyone with an interest in German history. Sandra Barkhof, History
Journal of the Historical Association
Winkler confirms his status as one of the world's leading authorities on German history; his account of the country's complex history is unlikely to be surpassed for many years to come and it should be read by anyone wishing to understand the history of the European Union's most important and influential member. Marcus Papadopoulos, Tribune
magisterial...Winkler's magnum opus. TLS
an impressive accomplishment... very much worth reading Jonathan Sperber

Heinrich August Winkler was born in 1938 in Königsberg. He studied history, philosophy, and public law in Tübingen, Heidelberg and Münster. He was associate professor at the Freie Universität in Berlin in 1970-72 and then professor of modern history in Freiburg until 1991. He has been at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin since 1992, and has been a visiting scholar in Princeton, at the Wilson Center in Washington, at the Institute forAdvanced Studies in Berlin, and at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich.

Vivid, succinct, and highly accessible, Heinrich Winkler's magisterial history of modern Germany offers the history of a nation and its people through two turbulent centuries. It is the story of a country that, while always culturally identified with the West, long resisted the political trajectories of its neighbours.This second and final volume begins at the point of the collapse of the first German democracy, and ends with the joining of East and West Germany in the reunification of 1990. Winkler offers a brilliant synthesis of complex events and illuminates them with fresh insights. He analyses the decisions that shaped the country's triumphs and catastrophes, interweaving high politics with telling vignettes about the German people and their own self-perception.The two volumes of Germany: The Long Road West, exploring the history of the German lands from the final days of the Holy Roman Empire to the very first of a reunified state in the late twentieth century, will be welcomed by scholars, students, and anyone wishing to understand a most complex and contradictory past.

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