If you've considered the case Sebald makes in _On the Natural History of Destruction_ you may wish also to consider the other "amnesia" Germany has embraced. Perhaps some feel that now is the time for Germany to step forward and claim its rightful place among the victims of the 20th Century's excesses...well, more of us don't, and this book is a good illustration of why. Postwar Germany's relationship to itself, to its history, to the war, are explored here subtly and comically. The past, which literally resurfaces in a model postwar town designed to evoke nothing more than the antithesis of Nazism, is draped over this brilliant book. At what cost freedom? At what cost revolution? At what cost order? At what cost comfort? At what cost homogeneity? All of these questions are addressed, the answers filtered through a prism that unstintingly insists that Germany must be defined by its Nazi past no matter what.

Walter Abish has a reputation for writing experimental fiction and much of his work is not all that accessible but this novel will appeal to readers of both experimental fiction and readers who like a solid plot and believable characters as the book treads ground familiar enough to appeal to the reader with a taste for tradtional novels and yet the psychologies studied are quite modern and so the reader of experimental fiction will find much to admire as well. Abish is an American and this book won the most prestigious American book award(PEN/Faulkner) in the year of its release 1981 but the authors that come to mind when reading HOW GERMAN IS IT are German or Austrian. The lead character is named Ulrich and any lover of German language literature will immediately think Robert Musil when hearing that name. In a way the book is reminiscent of Musil's Man Without Qualities in that its lead character is a kind of cipher without any real identity of his own, at least not one that is readily apparent. Abish's Ulrich is an author and throughout the book Abish has different characters in his book comment on how unreliable authors are. This is kind of a modernist joke but one that gains in resonance as the book progresses. Abish writes in a way that may remind some of Kundera but without the humor, and without the hip 60's sensibility. Like Kundera however he places his characters in very specific historic contexts. For Abish however there is a kind of delayed reaction as the present of the novel is the late seventies but the historic context still defining each character relates back to the 1939-45 period. The truths and obsessions that define the German character that was so very evident in those years have never really vanished is Abish's conceit. And each character must deal with those truths in his own way and define him/herself against them. In addition there is the irony/ambiguity in the title that suggests or asks if these are just German obsessions or are these obsessions shared by all modern capitalist societies. But all is done below the surface as Abish reveals all very subtly through his characters which he flushes out only very slowly and this slow and gradual flushing out of each character is where the real appeal of the novel is. Who is really standing for what. It is not so easy to see or say who is on what side and who stands for what in the modern version of Germany. Not til the last page do you know the defining truth of the lead character. And it is a surprise which I did at no time see coming. A great psychological study of half a dozen characters told in a meticulous and deliberately paced prose which reveals this while concealing that. Virtually perfect in every way which makes this novels answer to its own question HOW GERMAN IS IT :very German indeed.

Wow, when I first read this book it actually made me THINK about the characters when I was away from the book. I found myself wondering about these people, and still today (I read the book 3 years ago) it stands out as particularly memorable. This is incredible literature. One of the best novels dealing with the psychological effects of history. The story centers around a German man who must face his own culture in a variety of different ways, until he is forced to come to terms with it's Nazi past.

This book is the most important description of the soviet terror that stroke the whole society in communist countries much before Soljenistin. When published, all communist parties in Europe, continued to refuse to see the horrible reality for decades, showing that communism equal nazism. This book should be reprinted and advertised as a piece of XX century History

This book is probably the best book written about the extremes to which a government can systematically abuse it citizens, and how one individual can live through the horror and document the story first hand. Takes place in Stalinist Russia, but the back drop could be any totalitarian regime.

I was given this book to read by someone who escaped the "workers' paradise" in Europe. For those who underestimate the evil of the Communist Party, you will quickly be awakened.

I've read most of the novels in Dr. Schlant's book. Yet when I turned the last page of LANGUAGE, I knew that one of my next projects will have to include re-reading them.

She rightly isolates the lone voices who dared speak up from 1945 - 1960 or so, especially Karl Jaspers. Perhaps if we ask, she will write a sequel on the individuals she does identify as positive role models in an era when they were few. [Note: I think I disagree with her assessment of Werner Bergengruen's works, as he was widely read by the small numbers involved in German resistance, and was a special friend of the White Rose. In fact, he manually duplicated some of their leaflets not knowing he knew the authors, an action that could have met with death. But I will not quibble.]

Even if she never gets around to a follow-up work, this one will have accomplished something few others have dared to speak aloud, namely boldly proclaiming that the world has not expected too much of Germany, that there have not been too many books about the Holocaust, that in fact those who chant "there's no business like Shoah business" are the worst informed of the lot.

For what she says is true -- Germany must figure out how to mourn the dead. Once the nation is willing to collectively grieve (and not sate its conscience by buying Magen David necklaces and swelling the numbers at klezmer concerts), then perhaps the writing of books about the Holocaust can end. But not before then.

Thank you, Dr. Schlant.

At a recent book party for Ernestine Schlant (a.k.a. Mrs. Bill Bradley), I was particularly struck with Ms. Schlant's statement that "literature is the seismograph of a people's unconscious".

Ms. Schlant and I both grew up in Germany. She was nine years old at the end of WWII, I was six. We both live in the US and have a foot in both worlds. I attended schools where "former" Nazi teachers made sure that I didn't know about the atrocities committed by my people, was surrounded by a thick wall of impenetrable silence and like many young Germans of my generation, including Schlant, didn't find out about the Holocaust until I ventured abroad as a young adult and was confronted with its horror.

It can safely be said that the official silence of the first twenty postwar years has long since given way to debates, discussions, the publication of many non-fiction books, documentaries, and so forth. While German authors like Heinrich Böll (who received the Nobel prize in 1972), Günter Grass (one of last year's nobelists), Wolfgang Borchert, Siegfried Lenz, and others have written eloquently about the horrors and the madness of war and our misery because of it, literature by non-Jewish Germans depicting and addressing the suffering of fellow German-Jewish citizens continues to be virtually nonexistent. We saw our world as shattered by WWII and its aftermath, Jews disappeared - while the language with which we describe our own suffering is rich in nuance and texture, the language we use to describe the fate of Jews is abstract and devoid of emotional resonance.

In my own research, I have found that many of my countrymen believe that there is in fact an abundance of literature written by German gentiles which deals with the plight of European Jews in general and German Jews in particular. In reality, there is a distinct absence of Holocaust victims as protagonists in literature written by German gentiles. Many if not most Germans seem to consider literature about their own suffering during WWII and the chaos of the postwar years, and condemnation of the Hitler regime as synonymous with writing about Holocaust victims. It doesn't strike them as extraordinary that there are almost no books written by them about our former Jewish fellow citizens, who had lived in Germany for hundreds of years, had contributed to our culture and society, had been our neighbors, our class-mates, our colleagues, our acquaintances, our friends and our relatives. As Ms. Schlant brilliantly demonstrates in her book, even after WWII , when it was perfectly safe to do so, almost no books were written by Germans, which explored their feelings about the forced emigration or deportation to a sure death of their Jewish fellow citizens. Not even by the roughly half a million German gentiles who had acquired Jewish relatives through marriage. One could expect that at least a handful of those might have felt compelled to write about the emotional fallout of the tragedies of their Jewish in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, or cousins.

In my first collection of narrative poetry TALES FROM A CHILD OF THE ENEMY (so far only published in the US) the stories of holocaust victims and survivors whom I met in Brooklyn during the sixties, figure prominently. I have returned to Germany regularly to share my work with students and others. Several Germans involved in creating Holocaust teaching curricula, have criticized my inclusion of Holocaust victims in my writing and have suggested that 'I should write about my experience, and Holocaust survivors should write about theirs'.

To this day, German Jews are referred to as Jews, hardly ever as German citizens, thereby continuing their marginalization in German consciousness. Not surprisingly, young Germans are generally unaware that German Jews had been fully integrated and assimilated into German society prior to the Holocaust.

Yes, German gentiles visit Israel; some young Germans pick weeds on kibbutzim during their holidays; others join Action Reconciliation and perform lowly tasks in Jewish nursing homes. But to this day we Germans have failed by and large to incorporate the fates, the sorrow and the suffering of our fellow German-Jewish citizens into our literature.

What then does the seismograph of the unconscious as reflected in German literature, say about The New Germany?

A great analytic work in which Schlant adds meaning to that which is omitted or left unsaid in post-war German literature about Nazi crimes against the Jews and thereby lifts analytic writing to a new and higher level. In analyzing the post-war german literature, Schlant explains, clarifies and puts into context complex metaphors for those of us who would otherwise be led onto wrong paths and conclusions. Due to its intensity and perception, this book is hard to put down.

Fine text & phenomenal photographs.

Wonderful photographs and narrative; this book captures the life and spirit of Berlin during its heyday. The final few pages address the emergence of the Nazi influence; other books thus are left to relate the ensuing horror that befell Berlin. One of my favourite Berlin books. Also worth a read are "Before the Deluge" and "Faust's Metropolis", two excellent books which cover Berlin in the 20's and 30's.

This book of Pre-World War II Berlin is eloquently told in a series of photographs the have an undeniable melancholy effect on the reader for days of tranquility and simplicity long gone. If you can get your hands on a copy it is well worth it.

Do we really need another book about "Der Fuhrer"? Surprisingly, if the book is this one, the answer is yes. Because this book looks at Hitler from a different angle- one that is pretty much unknown to the layperson: this book is about the "sensitive," "artistic," and "cultivated" Hitler. As you might expect when using such words in connection with Hitler, contradictions abound. The man who could weep while listening to the music of Wagner is the same man who, the moment he came to power, fired or drove into exile musicians and artists he didn't approve of: Jews, Bolsheviks, Modernists, etc. On the other hand, if he liked you personally and thought you were talented, he would sometimes look the other way- he supported, or at least didn't harass, several people who were Jewish or who disagreed with him politically. Some of you may have winced when I used the word "cultivated" in connection with Hitler. But, consider the following: he was very well read (and had a tremendous, possibly photographic, memory); he was a competent, though unimaginative, artist- he could draw and paint as well as your average art school student (and he was completely self-taught); he knew a tremendous amount about the operas of Wagner, and was a good judge of opera singers; he was knowledgeable about architecture, could make architectural sketches, and could intelligently discuss technical aspects of the craft, etc. Having said that, we must remember the flip-side- Hitler was very narrowminded. His love of art was pretty much limited to 19th century German Romantics and some of the painters of the Italian Renaissance. He thought all modern art- which for him started with the Impressionists- was trash, and decadent to boot. He loved opera, but only Wagner and Puccini. He didn't much care for other music- he wasn't really enthusiastic about Beethoven, Mozart, etc. He couldn't stand Brahms, although he eventually did develop a taste for Bruckner. He thought modern music, with its dissonances and atonality, was horrible. In architecture, he admired the Greeks and Romans- but in his building plans for the Third Reich everything had to be magnified to colossal size to awe people. Glass and steel structures left him cold, although he grudgingly realized he'd have to agree to build skyscrapers if only to show that National Socialist Germany could outdo America. Surprisingly, Hitler generally liked his culture "neat." He didn't want political messages- he wanted high-quality, beautiful, soul-elevating art/music/sculpture. Of course, he would tell you what qualified as high-quality, beautiful, and soul-elevating. It may seem odd, but Hitler was embarrassed by the crudity of his Nazi cronies. The vast majority of them had no interest in art, music and sculpture. They'd be dragged, although only silently kicking and screaming, to Bayreuth for the yearly dose of Wagner. They'd fall asleep and start to snore. No wonder the Little Corporal preferred the company of artists, musicians and sculptors. Perhaps the ultimate irony is that the man who wanted "art" with no political content- "art" that elevated people and helped them to get away from the problems, big and small, of everyday life, succeeded in politicizing culture to an unprecedented degree. This book is a brilliant achievement by Mr. Spotts. It forces us to look at Hitler not as a ranting, foaming-at-the-mouth, caricature, but as a fellow human being with, dare I say it, some positive qualities. Yes, the devil is given his due.....but Mr. Spotts never forgets who or what he is dealing with. Why did I give this review the title I did? Mr. Spotts mentions that it was agreed that, when the end of the "Thousand Year Reich" was at hand, the Berlin Philharmonic would add Bruckner's Fourth Symphony to the programme. On the night of April 13th, 1945, the symphony was finally played. As people filed out of the concert hall afterwards, Hitler Youth were in the lobby, hawking cyanide capsules to interested takers. Poor Bruckner probably turned over in his grave.

When I lived in Germany 45 years ago I simply could not understand how those decent and civilized people had allowed themselves to be taken in by Hitler. And amazingly in our many conversations they freely admitted that they still believed, up to a point, that Hitler had been "good" for Germany!

Since then I have turned over a whole library trying to find an answer to that question. Three books go a long way toward explaining the phenomenon of Adolf Hitler: Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography; "Hitler's Table Talk" edited by John Toland; and now Frederic Spotts' "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics."

"Who is afraid of Adolf Hitler?" Frederic Spotts asks at the end of this extraordinarily revealing book. "Just about everyone," is his rhetorical response. Another question this book asks, tangentially, is "Who doesn't loathe Adolf Hitler?" Well, Hitler was personally responsible for the murder of millions of people and a war that destroyed Europe. All of this within living memory -- many of us were nurtured on the events of WWII. So how could any decent person admit to a shred of sympathy or even understanding for a monster like this Hitler? One would rather admit to sympathy for the Devil.

If you wish for any insight into a person's psychology, start with the music he likes and his taste in art. In this book Mr. Spotts makes the case that that these things were essential and central in Hitler's life and career and he does this convincingly. He also proves, to my satisfaction at least, that Adolf Hitler actually had some talent as a painter and an architect, not first-class by any means, but enough that he knew good stuff from trash and that he knew full well the "socialist" art produced during the Third Reich was trash. But one of the most revealing aspects of "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics" is what it reveals about us, the readers. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that much of the art and music and architecture Hitler liked, we like it too, and the stuff he didn't like, that turns us off also. Mr. Spotts concludes that Hitler's personality had many facets and the value of this book is that it forces us to look closely at them and open our eyes to the tiny glimmers of ourselves in there.

This is a thoroughly researched, and horribly fascinating, guide through the cultural interests and pretensions, and later the cultural policies, of Adolph Hitler. Spotts takes us through Hitler's mix of boundless ambition and lack of talent in the visual arts, through his interest in music, and his fascination with architecture. He outlines Hitler's attempt, once he'd gained power, to create a compliant community of artists in his nightmarish Reich, his efforts to get artists to produce what he wanted: the carefully controlled art-in-the-service-of-the-state, populist and uplifting, that Plato stipulated was the only kind of art that could be admitted into his Republic. (Was Plato a precursor of Nazism? Absolutely. An influence? Probably not.)

Though, as with any murderous tyrant, it pleased Hitler to grant indulgences. He allowed some artists in the Third Reich to get away with defiance that would have had anyone else killed. But these indulgences, Spotts observes, were not enough to inspire many of the artists who remained in Germany with anything approximating courage. Musicians like Richard Strauss and Wilhelm Furtwängler made huge accommodations and moral compromises with the Reich, relying on pathetically miniscule gestures to salve their consciences.

No-one who has not been in the same circumstances has the right to condemn them too easily, but at a time when extraordinary courage was called for they showed only human weakness. Though Strauss composed _A Hero's Life_ and Furtwängler conducted it, neither lived it. If we are tempted to believe that artists have special claims to virtue, or that interest in art is likely to lead a person towards virtue, then Spotts' book is an antidote for that sad illusion. Spotts is rightly hard on those artists who, like Karajan in particular, helped put a civilised gloss on Nazi barbarism.

It has been objected that to focus on the arts in the Third Reich instead of, say, the war in Russia or the Holocaust, is to trivialise the evil of Nazism. That view is mistaken. To focus on one part of a catastrophe where the horrors are more subtle is not to trivialise other, still more atrocious, aspects. Instead it is to show how its distinctive and chilling lack of humanity pervaded every aspect of Nazism. In focussing belated attention on the Third Reich's cultural politics, Spotts does not diminish our appreciation of the horror of fascism but enhances it.

Some information in Spotts' book may provide unwelcome news for vested intellectual interests. For example, Spotts exposes the rose-coloured portrait of Hitler in August Kubizek's _Adolf Hitler: Mein Judengfreund_ ("The Young Hitler I Knew"), showing it to be as fraudulent as the "Hitler" of Hermann Rauschning's imaginary dialogues. Hitler apologists have long clung onto "Kubizek's book", with - from their point of view - good reason given Kubizek's romanticisation of the young Hitler, but Spotts makes it clear that "Kubizek's" book was merely a ghostwritten hoax.

Another myth that is dying hard (though dying) is the one promoted by Köhler, Rose, Zelinsky et alia, claiming Hitler formed his political views and dreams out of composer Richard Wagner's operas and prose. Spotts shows that Hitler was indeed impressed at a young age by Wagner's opera _Rienzi_. But Hitler failed to note that in this early Wagnerian opera (Wagner himself dismissed _Rienzi_ as a "pecadillo of my youth") the Roman Tribune Rienzi becomes puffed up by the pride of his early successes, and is brought down by that unheeding arrogance. Rienzi fails to show compassion for those killed on either side, including his own, in Rome's brief civil war, preferring to spend his time and money on grand costumes and ceremonies, and he fails (eventually) to show mercy for those who fought against him. As a direct result of these failings he is overthrown by the Roman people: Wagner's actual message was obvious. It was Wagner's ill-luck that an evil lunatic, active a century after Wagner's opera was written, liked the sound his music made but failed to take note of his operas' meanings and messages.

But Hitler did eventually get Wagner's message, Spotts reveals, finding Wagner unpalatable after the defeat at Stalingrad brought home the lesson taught in Wagner's _Ring_ cycle: that pursuit of power destroys love and leads to moral degradation and downfall. From then Hitler could no longer bear to listen to Wagner, and in his last years turned instead to the schmaltzy operettas of Franz Lehar. There was no such person as "Wagner's Hitler", Spotts concludes; to Hitler, Wagner was only an opera composer. As an aside, Spotts noted that, Hitler excepted, the Nazi Party as a whole preferred Beethoven.

It would have been good to see more on the Reich's use of radio and film. Spotts hardly touches on Leni Riefenstahl's films, nor on films by other Nazi directors with similar amounts of artistic ambition, or pretension, but none of Riefenstahl's regrettable talent. The theatre under the Third Reich is also only barely covered. But in its central fields - music, painting and sculpture, and architecture including the abstract art of the autobahns - Spotts is comprehensive and authoritative.

Finally, it's important to note that Spotts is not being quite as ambitious as the book's blurb might suggest. Spotts does not "explain" Hitler, still less explain him away, by showing the extent of his artistic interests, and of his artistic disappointment. He writes only about one aspect of the great "catastrophe" (as Spotts called Hitler), but an aspect that contains considerable illumination on the whole.

Spotts provides a great deal of valuable information and insight on the arts in Hitler's Germany, with much that is (so far as I can tell) new and - mirabile dictu! - authoritative and reliable.

Cheers!

Laon

A fascinating account of Hitler's obsessive concern over controlling the Norwegian coastline during WWII. Dr Claasen outlines the strategic naivety of Hitler's focus on Norway with brilliant insight and historical accuracy. If you are a student of wartime history, I strongly recommend this book as a valuable tool to understanding the deep and often irrational psyche of Germany's enigmatic leader during World War II. 'Hitler's Northern War' also sheds further light on the bitter interservice feuding and high command interference that was rife amongst the German forces that purposed to invade Norway. A gripping read balanced with exhaustive historical veracity.

This was my first foray into military history and I really liked it. I guess I expected to be bored by endless details of this type of weapon or that, and which soldiers were moved where, but I wasn't bored at all. It helped that Claasen put the whole thing into a strategic context. I could easily see why the northern theatre was so important (especially for its iron ore, but also as a base for air and shipping operations against Britain). While he doesn't labor the detail (thankfully) Claasen relates some great stories of the important clashes. They illustrate the argument he is making. He also focuses on the role of air power, which makes it interesting. The appalling weather conditions made this a difficult theatre for airpower, but the effort there included a number of firsts. For example, it saw the first ever paratroop drop and it provided the first evidence that the balance of air and sea had shifted forever towards the air. In the middle of this is Hitler, as Claasen calls him the "great meddler". Intriguingly, both Churchill and Hitler were obsessed with Norway at varying stages, though Hitler's interest was slow in building, it burned brightly in the end (and in some strange ways). All this was fine in the early stages of the war when the blitzkrieg was so devastating. But later, sustaining a war on a number of fronts, it was all too much for Hitler to keep control of effectively, though that didn't stop him from trying. There are other colorful characters as well, some on the ground (or in the air) in Norway, others like Goering back in Germany. Goering is blamed for Germany's fatal lack of a long-range strategic bomber and maritime aircraft. He is also criticized for his luftwaffe parochialism. He jealously guarded anything that flew from the clutches of the navy, to the detriment of both. This chronic inter-service rivalry and the lack of aircraft seriously hampered the operations and even the usefulness of Norway. It never delivered on its potential, largely because the Germans lacked the necessary aircraft. So the invasion was a complete success (thanks also to the "disjointed and shambolic" response from the allies) but from early on "Norway failed to live up to its billing".

But that doesn't stop this from being a fascinating story, and Claasen does a great job of handling it. He breaks up the essential elements of the tale, selecting what he needs without cluttering up the plot. He often writes with a colorful turn of phrase, and you get the feeling he has an eye for humor and irony in all of this. And there is brilliant material to work with. The geography of Scandinavia, with all its extremes, provides a colorful background. The fate of arctic convoys or vulnerable footholds adds to the excitement. I found this a fantastic book. It's a great read. I recommend it to layperson and expert alike.

I'm pleased to see the University of Kansas Press continues to lead the field in terms of solid, analtyical military history. This book, by Adam Clausen, is every bit as good as David Glantz, Joel Hayward and James Corum's, also published by Kansas.

I learned quite a lot of new things about the Norwegian campaign from this lovely looking, well produced and very readable book.

It also has a set of photographs that I had never before seen.

BUY THE BOOK. ITS OUTSTANDING.

This book takes place during Mandie's trip through Europe in 1901 with Grandmother Taft, Senator Morton,Celia, and Jonathan. They are visiting the Baroness Geisler's(whom they meet in book sixteen) Castle in Germany. In this adventure Mandie gets involved in a mystery of a jumping tree and the Baroness's Grandson. The end is very surprising, yet not what I had hoped for. That is why I gave this book four stars, instead of five.

Mandie and her friends are on their way to Germany to visit the Baroness Geissler. But their journey gets off to a bad start when their carriage breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Mandie and Senator Morton are forced to go and find another carriage. That's just one of the bizarre things that happen during their stay. But the weirdest one of all is when they all see a juniper tree...jumping! And on top of that, the baroness's grandson is cold and unfriendly, so they can't get any information out of him. But Mandie has reason to suspect that he's hiding something from them. But what? Find out in this exciting book!

This another great book by Lois Gladys Leppard. I liked the part about the juniper tree jumping. That was really neat! I have no idea where Lois Gladys Leppard gets her plots for her stories, but wherever she gets them, they are very good.
I just knew Rupert had something to do with the broken carriage, but the reason surprised me. But it was a good kind of surprise. Again, this book is stellar!

I really liked this book. I love this whole series of books. I'm 13 and I still read them. They are really worth reading. Especially the books where she's in school or in Europe.

Iggers examines basic trends in how history is written. The book looks at how social sciences transformed historiography after WWII. Iggers describes a trend in the postmodern discipline towards a microhistory, cultural history as well as the history of the common man. An interesting read.

One of the great revelations I had in college many, many years ago occurred in the stacks of the library. I was doing some research on Wilhelm Dilthey and found myself looking at several thousands of books devoted to the history of philosophy. At that moment I began to have some idea on how difficult it is to acquire a magisterial overview of any field of inquiry. It takes a lifetime of study and the mastery of several languages to develop have such an overview. And sadly, that knowledge sometimes gets pored into a book that relatively few people ever read.
This book by Georg Iggers represents that level of learning. Iggers specializes in German intellectual history but has read deeply in the historical work done in Italy, France, England and the U.S. of A. as well.
What he is trying to do in the brief book (147 pages of text, 23 pages of footnotes) is to give an overview of the most influential approaches to history of the last century. His work is divided three main parts. The first section covers the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th. This period is dominated by the influence of Ranke and his ideas. Iggers also discusses the influence of Weber, Troeltsch, Meinecke, Karl Lambrecht, Parrington, Beard, Becker and many others that were involved in these early disputes. Obviously, Iggers can only cover a few of these people in any sort of depth but he seems to have a gift for summarizing the main point of a debate in a few lines.
One note of caution: with any such survey, I cannot help but wonder how accurately the author is expressing the views of those s/he is writing about. Iggers interprets Dilthey in a way that I disagree with but which is common enough. This is the only time in this book that I found myself disagreeing with his presentation except for that on Hayden White. More on that later.
The second part of the book covers the period just before and after WW II when the other social sciences began to make their influence felt in way history was practiced. Iggers talks at length about the body of work surrounding the journal, Annals . He also covers the work of the Historical Social Science school in Germany (Hans Wehler, Eckert Kehr, and Jurgen Kocka among others) as well as Marxist historiography from that period (people like Maurice Godelier in France, E.P. Thompsom and Christopher Hill in England).
This second part of the book was the most informative for me. I was ignorant of many of the Germans and obviously haven't paid enough attention to the work of Braudel. Iggers is great for orienting yourself to explore some of these schools of history.
The last section is on the postmodern critique of history, the development of schools of microhistory, and the rise of schools of history focusing on women or ethnicities that are outside the grand narrative of Western History.
I found the most interesting subsection to be that on the Italian school of microhistory. Carlo Ginzberg is probably the best known proponent to those of us who can only read English. Proponents of this school feel that large scale theories about history do not represent accurately the life experience of the actual actors of history. Their focus is on a much smaller scale- the semiotics of a village during the lifetime of one person.
And now for Hayden White. I have never been able to read Metahistory. That may be more of a reflection on my inadequacies as a reader rather than White's as a writer. Iggers summarizes White's argument as something along the lines of all historical writing must use the same rhetorical devices of emplotment as does fiction therefore it has no more truth value than fiction. If this is really what White's argument amounts to, it borders on the absurd. I find myself wanting to give White another try just to confirm my suspicion that this does not really represent his argument adequately.
This is a bit of a quibble however in regards to this excellent volume by Iggers. This survey could profitably be read by most sophomores or juniors majoring in history or philosophy in college. The writing is clear, the scholarship is daunting (especially in regards to the German historians) and the presentation is pithier than my review (sigh). Iggers may be a little unfair to some of those he discusses but he does his job as well as it can be done, I suspect. It really is up to the reader to go from there.
As for myself, even though I have read in the philosophy of history off and one for over twenty five years, I still learned quite a bit. If nothing else, I was reminded about just how little I really know

It narrates the historiographical approach in an unbiased way. It helps an average student to realize the history of historical writing in modern world.

Author Cynthia Cavnar condenses the life of Edith Stein into the most readable book yet. Information is contained herein which was not mentioned in longer biographies. However, in the few pages in which Cavnar discusses Pope Pius XI and XII and their roles in the fight against Nazism, Cavnar misses the mark, downplaying Mit Brenneder Sorge (On the Church and the German Reich) by Pius XI and ignoring altogether Pius XII's Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society) published in 1939. I would have to recommend "Edith Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross" by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda over Ms. Cavnar's title although the former book is a little less readable.

This is the best indroduction to Edith Stein. It is vividly written and moves quickly. The book underscores the strength of this contemporary woman who, facing great challenges, had to think through and stand firm in her beliefs. In Cavnar's book, the central drama of Edith Stein's life is her conversion to Catholicism. This book does what a well-written saint's biography should do--namely, challenge the reader to respond to God's call with greater intensity.

Cavnar outlines the context of the life of St. Edith Stein so that the reader may appreciate the martyr's life as she lived it. Yet the author does not cling to the technicalities so as to give a boring recitation of St. Edith's accomplishments and failures. Rather, Cavnar brings the deepest passions of St. Edith to life: her love of philosophy, her love of teaching, her love of helping others, and most importantly, her love of God. The narrative moves swiftly so that the reader is caught up in the excitements and disappointments in St. Edith's life from World War I, her academic work and her relationships with her family members. This book is an excellent inspirational biography that presents a very real woman who was very dedicated to God.

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot is a true story from WWII. The prologue and epilogue include historical and personal notes that will be of interest to the reader. Set in Berlin in 1948 this book will educate children and teach them how simple actions can impact others. It is an enjoyable read. More information on a related book and website can be found within.

This true story of hope, kindness and heroism is a reminder that there are American soldiers who have provided a variety of rescues for people in other countries, a reminder that every child is important, a reminder that one caring person can change the world. There's even a subtle message of the power of prayer. The illustrations are as beautiful, sweet, and historically accurate as the story itself. The heart-warming text gives children a true living American hero to emulate in the Chocolate Pilot and a child to relate to in Mercedes. Grown-ups love this book as much as children do.

"Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot: A True Story of the Berlin "Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot": This is a true Story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy That Dropped from the Sky by Margot Theis Raven, Gijsbert Van Frankenhuyzen" demonstrates the true meaning of the human sprit and the impact of that sprit upon generation after generation. While I was reading this story I was reminded of a saying which emphasizes how truly important our roles, as adults, are in the lives of children, ...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." This true story is truly remarkable and a must to share with adults and children.