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nghia 's review for:
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947
by Christopher Clark
This history of Prussia has enough flaws that giving it four stars doesn't quite feel justified but giving it three stars is underrating it.
The primary problem is that -- like many bits of non-fiction written by specialists in their field -- the book is chock full of bits where the author assumes you already know what he's talking about. In some cases I did...but not all. So when he uses "Kaiser" with no gloss it didn't bother me but not all readers will feel the same.
Another problem with the book is that it tries to do too much. An entire socio-economic-military-political-ethnic-religious history of Prussia (and its neighbors) over the course of a couple of centuries? I found it hard at times to keep the thread of things as he jumps from a discussion of Pietist evangelism to Junker tax status to the Emperor banning certain kinds of dance. Also: this is definitely a history of Prussia. If you need to read about and identify with historical personages to keep your interest you probably won't like Iron Kingdom very much. Bismarck and a few couple of the early Kings get brief biographical sketches but these are mere summaries.
Despite the flaws there was a lot I liked here (hence my high rating), especially the focus on the socio-political rather than military exploits. (World War 1 and 2 are skipped over in mere paragraphs.) It did feel a bit uneven -- after I hit the 50% mark I sometimes struggled to make much reading progress -- but overall I enjoyed seeing the nitty-gritty of how a nation-state is born, lives, and dies.
The primary problem is that -- like many bits of non-fiction written by specialists in their field -- the book is chock full of bits where the author assumes you already know what he's talking about. In some cases I did...but not all. So when he uses "Kaiser" with no gloss it didn't bother me but not all readers will feel the same.
Another problem with the book is that it tries to do too much. An entire socio-economic-military-political-ethnic-religious history of Prussia (and its neighbors) over the course of a couple of centuries? I found it hard at times to keep the thread of things as he jumps from a discussion of Pietist evangelism to Junker tax status to the Emperor banning certain kinds of dance. Also: this is definitely a history of Prussia. If you need to read about and identify with historical personages to keep your interest you probably won't like Iron Kingdom very much. Bismarck and a few couple of the early Kings get brief biographical sketches but these are mere summaries.
Despite the flaws there was a lot I liked here (hence my high rating), especially the focus on the socio-political rather than military exploits. (World War 1 and 2 are skipped over in mere paragraphs.) It did feel a bit uneven -- after I hit the 50% mark I sometimes struggled to make much reading progress -- but overall I enjoyed seeing the nitty-gritty of how a nation-state is born, lives, and dies.