Vertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany (1918 - 1933)
Author(s): Harald Jahner / Harald Jähner
Baillie Gifford-shortlisted author Harald Jähner (Aftermath- Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich) presents a staggering new assessment of the short life of the Weimar Republic between the wars in Germany. Germany, 1918- a country in flux. The First World War is lost, traditional values are shaken to their core, revolution is afoot and the victory of democracy beckons. Everything must change with the times. The country is abuzz with talk of the 'new woman', the 'new man', 'new living' and 'new thinking'.
What follows is the establishment of the Weimar Republic, an economic crisis and the transformation of Germany. A triumphant procession of liberated lifestyles emerges. Women conquer the racetracks and tennis courts, go out alone in the evenings, cut their hair short and cast the idea of marriage aside. Unisex style comes into fashion, androgynous and experimental. People revel in the discovery of leisure, filling up boxing halls, dance palaces and the hotspots of the New Age, embracing the department stores' promise of happiness and accepting the streets as a place of fierce battles.
So much of this short burst of life between the wars seems amazingly modern today, including, amidst a frenzy of change, the backlash from those who did not see themselves reflected in this new culture. Little by little, deep divisions in society began to emerge. Divisions that would have devastating consequences, altering the course of the twentieth century and the lives of millions around the world.
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'Vertigo is outstanding. Harald Jahner's gift for illuminating the big picture with telling detail gives the reader an uncanny sense of what it was actually like to be present in Germany during the Weimar Republic. This is history at its very best.' - Julia Boyd, bestselling author of Travellers in the Third Reich and A Village in the Third Reich
'Exemplary and important... This is the kind of book few writers possess the clarity of vision to write' - Max Hastings, Sunday Times
'A masterpiece' - Spectator
'Magnificent... There are great lessons in the nature of humanity to be learnt here' - Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph 'J hner is masterly in telling the tragic, despicable, comedic and uplifting stories of those who were there' - Katja Hoyer, The Times
'A reminder that the German experience will always stand apart' - Economist
Harald J hner (Author) Harald J hner is a cultural journalist and former editor of the Berliner Zeitung. He was also an honorary professor of cultural journalism at the Berlin University of the Arts. His book Aftermath- Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich was shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in the UK and won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for Non-Fiction in his native Germany. Shaun Whiteside (Translator) Shaun Whiteside is an award-winning translator from French, German, Italian and Dutch. His most recent translations from German include Aftermath by Harald J hner, To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann, Swansong 1945 by Walter Kempowski, Berlin Finale by Heinz Rein and The Broken House by Horst Kr ger.
General Fields
- :
- : Random House UK
- : WH Allen
- : 700.0
- : 22 June 2024
- : h234mm x w153mm x s40mm
- : books
Special Fields
- : Harald Jahner / Harald Jähner
- : Paperback
- : English
- : 943.085
- : 480
- : HBJD
