A review by booksrockcal
The Shortest History of Germany by James Hawes

adventurous informative medium-paced

3.75

I picked up this audiobook on Hoopla just after New Year’s. My husband and I are going to Germany this year and I wanted to get some background reading in and this seemed like a good choice as it is called The Shortest History of Germany.  It was highly readable and accessible although the author does seem to have some interesting opinions I will have to explore more in subsequent books. The author favors Germany west of the Elbe over Germany east of the Elbe and considers that the bad elements of Germany that led to Hitler (and the current rise of the ADF from the Protestant East. He doesn’t like Bismarck and I’m not sure Catholics were as unsupportive of Hitler as he maintains especially given the composition of Austria. I also would have appreciated more on the art, architecture, music, and literature of Germany. Still taken for what I wanted as I begin a year that will include travel to Germany- an overview of German history- this fit the bill.