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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
I'm coming to realize that writing a history that covers any significant amount of time is a thankless job. There's no way to cover hundreds of years in a way that covers everything to everyone's satisfaction.
There's a lot of great information in here and I kind of like how Clark begins with looking primarily at the leaders of the emerging Prussian state but then shifts to focus on social movements as the roll of king became less important. Or maybe not less important, but the position was occupied by less magnificent people. We can't all be Friedrich the Great!
Clark does an admirable job of giving the reader an overview of Prussian history, though it does sometimes feel a bit disorganized. Or, not disorganized, but organized in a way I didn't really enjoy. He has a habit of picking one thread and moving forward with it. Maybe following that thread for like twenty years. Then he hops back to where the previous thread started and begins following a new thread. The book is structured like this and I just found it somewhat confusing. Or maybe not confusing, but it made things feel more scattered and disconnected.
I think of the other history books I've read that move through centuries and they tend to stick to linearity. While there are certainly cons to taking either path with regard to writing history, I think the linear method at least makes everything straightforward and digestible in a very simple way. Whereas this scattershot approach may allow for covering more diverse topics, it leads to history feeling a bit haphazard.
Maybe it should be a minor complaint, but I just found it a bit unpleasant.
Anyrate, it's definitely worth checking out if you're interested in the history of central Europe.
There's a lot of great information in here and I kind of like how Clark begins with looking primarily at the leaders of the emerging Prussian state but then shifts to focus on social movements as the roll of king became less important. Or maybe not less important, but the position was occupied by less magnificent people. We can't all be Friedrich the Great!
Clark does an admirable job of giving the reader an overview of Prussian history, though it does sometimes feel a bit disorganized. Or, not disorganized, but organized in a way I didn't really enjoy. He has a habit of picking one thread and moving forward with it. Maybe following that thread for like twenty years. Then he hops back to where the previous thread started and begins following a new thread. The book is structured like this and I just found it somewhat confusing. Or maybe not confusing, but it made things feel more scattered and disconnected.
I think of the other history books I've read that move through centuries and they tend to stick to linearity. While there are certainly cons to taking either path with regard to writing history, I think the linear method at least makes everything straightforward and digestible in a very simple way. Whereas this scattershot approach may allow for covering more diverse topics, it leads to history feeling a bit haphazard.
Maybe it should be a minor complaint, but I just found it a bit unpleasant.
Anyrate, it's definitely worth checking out if you're interested in the history of central Europe.
I read this book with the utmost delight. Rarely does one come across a book written for a wide audience that manages nevertheless not to skimp on the details, and all that without detriment to readership too! One of the best history books I have ever read so far and one that made me regain faith in Sir Christopher Clark's scholarship after the lukewarm reception 'The Sleepwalkers' received from (mostly) German historians. 5/5 stars.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
slow-paced
Absolute pleasure reading this book and would recommend to anyone interested in learning about the through-line of Brandenburg-Prussia, Prussia, Prussia-Germany, and how that relates in part to the understanding of Germany today! A part was missing that I noticed, no mentioning of the Kaiser firing Bismarck, but other than that, a fantastic overview of Prussia, as a state, idea, power player in European geopolitics, and how it interacted with other neighboring German and European states as it slowly grew and organized until its abolition in 1947.