Germania: A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern - Tapa blanda

The high plateau of my year was my catching up with Simon Winder. Danubia and Germania are an idiosyncratic, often funny fusion of history writing, travel writing and disrespect. -- Sir Tom Stoppard * TLS * Magnificently crazy -- Will Self * Esquire *

`It made me laugh so hard that I woke up my wife and had to give up reading the book in bed. If Bill Bryson had collaborated with W. G. Sebald to write a book about Germany, they might have wound up with something like this' Sunday Times Germania is a very personal guide to the Germany that Simon Winder loves. Equally passionate about the region's history, folklore, cuisine, architecture and landscape, Winder describes Germany's past afresh - and in doing so sees a country much like our own: Protestant, aggressive and committed to eating some very strange food. This accessible, enthusiastic and startlingly vivid account is a brilliant introduction to the hidden wonders of Germany. `A splendid offering' Financial Times `His excitement is beguiling and infectious . . . There are many pleasures to be savoured in Germania, gems that make Winder's clever, rambunctious work a book to treasure' Literary Review `Beautifully written and insightful' Irish Times