History of Modern Germany, A: 1871 to the Present

by Dietrich Orlow

Survey of German history from 1870 to the present.

Genres: History, Germany, Nonfiction, Read For School

358 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1971

Reviews

[Daniel Willis]

A decent attempt at summarizing modern German history, well detailed. However, way too long, and sadly the author's political slant is way too evident. Things like "Both sides pushed for X (something bad) but when one side (my side) did it, it was an exception/mistake. When the other side did it, it wasn't. Of course I won't show any evidence backing that up (my side is always right!)" No possibility that he might be mistaken about his side. I prefer history books that allow the characters speak for to themselves, warts and all. History isn't black and white like many in society (on all sides) believe today.

If you want to learn many little known details of modern Germany history, this book has it. Just beware it has a spin, despite pretending not to.

[Jon Price]

Particularly good in the history of the early German Empire with some good background on the 1860’s.

[Gilsam Soh]

독일 현대사 - 1871년 독일제국 수립부터 현재까지, 디트릭 올로, 문수현 옮김, 미지북스, 2019

[Heather]

Truth be told, I've put this book on the back burner for the past 6 months. As a high school German teacher I was quite interested in the layout, historical depth, and presentation of this text, but so far I have only been disappointed. I suppose as entire historical re-tellings go, this is book is brief, but that being said, I also found it quite dry and boring. If/when I pick it back up again, I'll re-post with updates, but in the meantime, I have more interesting and exciting books to pursue with my already limited freetime.

[Jeremy Lytal]

This was, quite frankly, an awful book. It is probably the driest book I have ever had the misfortune to read; vampire- like, it sucked all the joy out of the subject. In the hands of even a mediocre writer, it would have been a really interesting subject. However, Orlow takes and reduces it to a desert wasteland that would make the Sahara or Kalahari look like verdant gardens. After finishing it, I wanted to get a cross-shaped silver dagger and run it through this book foul heart! You will find more enjoyment reading tax laws, legal forms, or technical manuals that from reading this book.

[Kate]

I know it seems silly to add a straight-up textbook to my list, but I genuinely liked reading this (at least the 1871-1945 portion, the scope of the class). It was short, for one thing, at least as textbooks go, and it was paperback, and it read clearly and easily, and was fascinating.