• The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany - Germany 1770-1866 by James J Sheehan
  • The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany - Iron Kingdom: the Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark
  • The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany - Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg
  • The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany - Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Bismarckian Germany by David Blackbourn
  • The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany - Namibia under German Rule by Helmut Bley

The best books on Nineteenth Century Germany, recommended by Richard Evans

At the beginning of the 1800s, Germany was a collection of independent states. By the end, it had been unified under Prussian political leadership into one of the world’s great powers. Here, Richard Evans, Regius Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Cambridge and Provost of Gresham College in the City of London, chooses five books on 19th century Germany that illustrate how that process unfolded and what the political, economic and social consequences of it were—intended and otherwise.

  • The best books on The Weimar Republic - Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz
  • The best books on The Weimar Republic - The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun
  • The best books on The Weimar Republic - The Spider's Web by Joseph Roth
  • The best books on The Weimar Republic - Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada
  • The best books on The Weimar Republic - Berlin in Lights: The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler (1918-1937) by Harry Kessler

The best books on The Weimar Republic, recommended by Robert Gerwarth

The Weimar Republic was not doomed to fail, says the historian Robert Gerwarth; it was, in many ways, popularly rooted and successful, and its artistic achievements remain influential to this day. Here he selects five books that illustrate the rich cultural life of the Weimar Republic, its pioneering modernism and the febrile political atmosphere that gripped it in the wake of the Great Depression.

  • The Best Goethe Books - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Jeremy Adler
  • The Best Goethe Books - Italian Journey by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The Best Goethe Books - Elective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The Best Goethe Books - Faust I & II by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • The Best Goethe Books - Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe by George Santayana

The Best Goethe Books, recommended by David E. Wellbery

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) has been described as ‘the last true polymath to walk the earth’. A defining figure in German literature, Goethe coined the concept of world literature. And his literary and dramatic achievements are matched by his scientific work. David E. Wellbery, Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago and recipient of the Golden Goethe Medal, introduces us to the life and work of Goethe. He explores why figures such as Beethoven and Napoleon were magnetised to him, how Rousseau influenced Faust, and why Goethe’s Faust does not sell his soul to the devil.

  • The best books on Hannah Arendt - The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
  • The best books on Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
  • The best books on Hannah Arendt - Men in Dark Times by Hannah Arendt
  • The best books on Hannah Arendt - Thinking Without a Banister by Hannah Arendt
  • The best books on Hannah Arendt - Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl

The best books on Hannah Arendt, recommended by Samantha Rose Hill

Unimpressed by the response of philosophers to the rise of Nazism in her native Germany, Hannah Arendt rejected the notion of being a philosopher and said she was a political theorist. Samantha Rose Hill, writer and formerly assistant director of the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, talks us through Hannah Arendt’s life and work—and suggests which books to read if we want to learn more about her and her ideas.

  • The best books on The Thirty Years War - Westphalia: the Last Christian Peace 1643-48 by Derek Croxton
  • The best books on The Thirty Years War - Monro, His expedition with the worthy Scots regiment (called Mac-Keyes-regiment) levied in August 1626 by Robert Monro
  • The best books on The Thirty Years War - Wallenstein: His Life Narrated by Golo Mann
  • The best books on The Thirty Years War - European Weapons and Warfare 1618–1648 by Eduard Wagner
  • The best books on The Thirty Years War - Tagebuch Eines Soldners Aus Dem Dreissigjahrigen Krieg Peter Hagendorf (ed. Jan Peters)

The best books on The Thirty Years War, recommended by Peter Wilson

It was a war that devastated Europe and left more than one-fifth of the German population dead. The complex peace agreement that ended it, the Treaty of Westphalia, is still credited with establishing our modern state system. Peter Wilson, Chichele Professor of the History of War at Oxford University and author of the most recent general history of the war, Europe’s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War, recommends books to read for a nuanced picture of Europe’s cataclysmic 17th-century conflict.