"From Sunday Times bestselling author John Kampfner: a sweeping history of Berlin, city of haven and hell, disaster and reinvention
No other city has had so many lives, survived so many disasters and has reinvented itself so many times. No other city is like Berlin.
Ever since John Kampfner was a young journalist in Communist East Berlin, he hasn't been able to get the city out of his mind. It is a place tortured by its past, obsessed with memories, a place where traumas are unleashed and the traumatised have gathered.
Over the past four years Kampfner has walked the length and breadth of Berlin, delving into the archives, and talking to historians and writers, architects and archaeologists. He clambers onto a fallen statue of Lenin; he rummages in boxes of early Medieval bones; he learns about the cabaret star so outrageous she was thrown out of the city.
Berlin has been a military barracks, industrial powerhouse, centre of learning, hotbed of decadence - and the laboratory for the worst experiment in horror known to man. Now a city of refuge, it is home to 180 nationalities, and more than a quarter of the population has a migrant background. Berlin never stands still. It is never satisfied. It never believes it has the answer. But it is now the irresistible capital to which the world is gravitating.
In Search of Berlin is an 800-year story, a dialogue between past and present; it is a new way of looking at this turbulent and beguiling city on its never-ending journey of reinvention."
"John Kampfner ist Brite und zeigt, wie sehr sich das Deutschland-Bild im Ausland in den letzten Jahren verändert hat. Die deutsche Krisenpolitik hält er für Weltklasse: Corona-Bekämpfung, Finanzkrise, Flüchtlingskrise - kein Land navigiere so erfolgreich und souverän durch schwierige Zeiten wie Deutschland. Während anderswo autoritäre Politiker und Populisten regieren, sei Deutschland ein Bollwerk aus Anstand und Stabilität. Den Grund für die Stärke sieht er vor allem in der soliden Politik Angela Merkels und in der kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Vergangenheit, darin liegt für ihn der Schlüssel zu einer sensiblen Demokratie. Kampfner schreibt eine erfrischend andere Geschichte der Bundesrepublik."
"NOMINATED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE
A WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE MONTH
Emerging from a collection of disparate city states 150 years ago, no other country has had as turbulent a history as Germany or enjoyed so much prosperity in such a short time frame. Today, as much of the world succumbs to authoritarianism and democracy is undermined from its heart, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability. Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a searching and entertaining exploration of the country many in the West still love to hate. Raising important questions for our post-Brexit landscape, Kampfner asks why Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain still languishes in wartime nostalgia and fails to tackle contemporary challenges. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, Why the Germans Do It Better is a rich and witty portrait of an eternally fascinating country.
“Smart, provocative and entertaining, this is a timely and enthralling love letter to our much misunderstood near neighbour” KAY BURLEY."
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