The Paradox of German Power - Tapa dura

"A brilliant book with an exceptionally astute analysis. Hans Kundnani holds up a mirror to Germany that is as sympathetic as it is critical and asks questions that Germans should also be asking themselves." --Heinrich August Winkler

"A major contribution to our understanding of the evolution of contemporary Europe." -- Anthony Giddens, House of Lords

"A thoughtfully conceived, well-informed, and carefully researched history of the 'German question' and its relevance for Europe's future." --Geoff Eley, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History, University of Michigan

"Germany has always been Europe's most complex power. Hans Kundnani, who is already an authority on its recent history, sets out the 'paradoxes of German power' today with characteristic verve. His account should be read by all opinion formers and politicians concerned with the future of our continent." --Brendan Simms, Professor in the History of International Relations, University of Cambridge and author of Unfinest Hour: Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia and Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present

"Hans Kundnani has written a thoughtful and provocative book, which challenges Germany's present foreign policies head on and argues that Germany once more may have become a source of instability at the heart of Europe. He does so with a deep understanding of German history and the sharp eye of a sympathetic outsider. His book deserves to be read and thought through by anyone who cares about the future of Germany and Europe." --Hanns W. Maull, Professor and Chair of Foreign Policy and International Relations, University of Trier

"This is probably the best synthesis of the German question I've ever read." --Lucio Caracciolo, editor of Limes and founder of Heartland, Eurasian Review of Geopolitics

"Observers of the German political scene already know Hans Kundnani as one of the most perceptive observers of Germany around. The Paradox of German Power is a historically informed, carefully considered, concise treatment of the evolution and contemporary nature of German foreign policy. It will surely cement Kundnani's status as one of Europe's top analysts of Germany." --Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University

Since the Euro crisis began, Germany has emerged as Europe's dominant power. During the last three years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been compared with Bismarck and even Hitler in the European media. And yet few can deny that Germany today is very different from the stereotype of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. After nearly seventy years of struggling with the Nazi past, Germans think that they more than anyone have learned its lessons. Above all, what the new Germany thinks it stands for is peace. Germany is unique in this combination of economic assertiveness and military abstinence. So what does it mean to have a "German Europe" in the twenty-first century?

In The Paradox of German Power, Hans Kundnani explains how Germany got to where it is now and where it might go in future. He explores German national identity and foreign policy through a series of tensions in German thinking and action: between continuity and change, between "normality" and "abnormality," between economics and politics, and between Europe and the world.