Product Description

Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, this is one of A.J.P. Taylor's best-known books, and is a notoriously idiosyncratice work written during the last days of the Second World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123679 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'Mr Taylor, by cutting down to a minimum the ballast of dates and names that so often encumbers historical writing, and concentrating on the fundamental trends and events, has achieved both brevity and lucidity.' - The Observer

From the Back Cover

'Mr Taylor, by cutting down to a minimum the ballast of dates and names that so often encumbers historical writing, and concentrating on the fundamental trends and events, has achieved both brevity and lucidity.' The Observer

One of A.J.P. Taylor's best-known books, The Course of German History is a notoriously idiosyncratice work, written during the last days of the Second World War. Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, The Course of German History is one of the great historian's finest, if more controversial, accomplishments. As Taylor hismelf noted, 'the history of the Germans is a history of extremes. It contains everything except moderation.' H ecould, of course, simply be referring to his own book.  

About the Author
A.J.P. Taylor (1906-90). British political and diplomatic historian, and noted journalist. He was the author of numerous bestselling works, including Bismarck, English History 1914-1945, The Origins of the Second World War and The War Lords.

Customer Reviews

Worth Reading
What this is not is an up to date overview of German history. It is idiosyncratic. It is a glorious and exteded rant. It is worth reading. This is a book one should read in the knowledge that what is said may very often be wrong (however wonderfully written), but that it was also written in certain context. Perhaps this is, above all, a book for those interested in Taylor himself - as one of the great historians.

Illuminating in spite of bias -- A must read
The Course of German History (Routledge Classics): A Survey of the Development of German History Since 1815
Less a dated book than a product of deeply-felt partisanship and bias against anything and everything German -- still shared by many fifty years after publication -- yet refreshingly illuminating in its bluntness, away from the pro-German bias of most scholars of things German (and of most for their chosen subjects), along realist, machiavellian lines assigning much to chance, on such topics as Martin Luther, the emergence of Prussia, the old Junker and officer class, Austria through the centuries, Germans generally, then and now: a pleasure page after page, and a must read on Germany, the Germans, and (debunked) history in general.

Try something else
Old-fashioned, narrow-minded, out-dated. The book hides its thoughtless arrogance behind sophisticated wording and sharp, witty phrases. Well-written, and he knows his facts, but it's painfully obvious from what time it is. There are better books on the German history, don't waste your money on this one.