1 comments about WALK Berlin (Photo Travel Guides).

1. This is a great book for getting a taste of what it is like to WALK around Berlin. Sights from all over the city's best neighborhoods. Many photos are in the book as a result of a contest for Berlin photos on Flickr - and as a result the book has more than one perspective. It is a great book for those who have toured Berlin, or are planning to visit in the future.

No comments about Pocket Menu Reader Germany (Langenscheidt's Pocket Menu Reader).

No comments about Berlin Style: Scenes, Interiors, Details (Icons).

No comments about Infinitely Beautiful: The Dessau Worlitz Garden.

No comments about Dark Tourism (Tourism, Leisure & Recreation).

5 comments about The Xenophobe's Guide to the Germans.

1. The Xenophobe's Guide to the Germans is a small and concise paperback that I've read more than once. It talks about many aspects of German society. It's been written by two authors: Stefan Zeidenitz and Ben Barkow. This useful, gratifying guide is 64 pages long and covers a total of 17 topics--examples of some of these are beliefs and values, leisure and pleasure, culture, conversation and gestures, custom and tradition, health and hygiene, government and bureaucracy, and business. Subjects discussed that I especially find to be engaging are the ones dealing with Christmas, television, and eating. Anyone who's interested in learning about Germany, or planning a trip, should find this book to be worthwhile and helpful. The Xenophobe's Guide to the Germans is a good reference publication that I'm glad to have; it's one that I plan on reading again.



2. I have read a few of the Xenophobe's Guides, and this so far is the best and the funniest. Maybe because I have lived here for the last two years, and experienced all the wonderful quirks and traits of the locals that I could relate to this book, but really, it is for everyone who plans to visit or live here, and of cause for the Germans themselves.

   Natually, I didn't agree with all of it, especially the working atmosphere... It's really not as formal as written in the book, at least not these days, but much of the rest runs true.

   A bit expensive for only 64 pages, but worth it for the laugh.




3. If only this book were longer. When it arrived I was rather taken aback - just 60 pages? Surely not! What can I learn about the Germans in 60 pages?
   
   Quite a lot, as it turns out. This book launches straight in with a very amusing look at the Germans, giving a brief discussion of their history and how the German nation came to be and then detailing many of the quirks and habits of this fascinating nation. The authors give a few ideas how the Germans have been so successful, particularly in terms of literature and music (Goethe, Bach, Kant) but also show some of the angst and problems that the German nature can cause for the people.
   
   The authors are both German although I wouldn't know that from their writing which is excellent, funny and seems to understand the Brits very well. They are also very able to poke fun at their own country (although they say this isn't something at which Germans are very adept).
   
   With such a short book you can only really get a very brief introduction to German people but it's a very amusing overview and certainly made me think a number of times. We tend to think of the Germans as probably the closest to Brits in terms of personality and nature than other Europeans - this book shows that we might well be wrong in that opinion and it might just help us to understand them more when we visit.
   
   Oh, and if you want a view of the Brits (and a much larger book) I can heartily recommend Kate Fox's "Watching the English".



4. I am a huge fan of the "Xenophobe's" series and I just read the German one, since I am German. I found it to be very true and yet there was one mistake: the part about animals I find to be untrue .. At least in my region of Germany, no one has a dog and dogs are not liked in public places like restaurants either. Many have small pets like rabbits, guinea pig etc but not dogs. They are too loud and smell ..



5. I bought this book for a laugh, and while I did laugh - quite a lot - I also finally had a confirmation from others of what I have experienced as an American living in Germany. Indeed, dogs are allowed most places in Germany -- restaurants, bars, shops, buses, trains, etc. (probably because they are quiet and far less smelly than children). Walking my dogs every day and taking them with me most places has helped me be accepted into this tiny German village quickly. This book also helped me illustrate for my German husband exactly why people from the USA and people from some other more "open" countries struggle here socially; he now does, at last, introduce me when we encounter a group of people he knows, specifically because the book said Germans don't do this and he finally realized how hard that makes it for an outsider. This is a must read if you are going to live in Germany for a while or do business with Germans. It's a book written with much humor, genuine affection, and great accuracy.

No comments about Camino De Santiago (Rother Walking Guide).

5 comments about This Is Berlin: Radio Broadcasts from Nazi Germany.

1. I was surprised at how well these 1938-40 scripts read, and how much information comes through the heavy Nazi censorship. Of course, it helped if Shirer's U.S. audience was listening between the lines, like when the author reported seeing groups of Jews working on road gangs in newly conquered Poland. These scripts cannot reproduce how Shirer (1904-93) used his flat Midwest inflection to get certain points past the Nazi censors standing near his microphone. Perhaps one can still ask older Americans who remember these broadcasts. Readers may want a copy of the author's "Berlin Diary" and even his "Nightmare Years" for illumination, and Shirer fans can hope that his family publishes more of his writings. The censorship detracts a bit from the author's immense talents, but he still comes through loud and clear.



2. Before I read this book, I didn't really have that much of an understanding of Nazi Germany, at least in terms of events and conditions within Germany leading up to the war. Part of the strength of the book from my perspective is that it not only deals with what the German leadership was saying, but also what the mood on the street was. Shirer does a great job in communicating the sentiments of the German people. The fears of encirclement and the bewilderment at the refusal of Britain to surrender or negotiate peace stand out as two fine examples of Shirer's attentiveness.

   The book is also a fascinating exercise in state propaganda and censorship. It's both insightful and extremely frustrating. There is a lot of repitition and one wearies of the daily tallies fresh from the battlefield. As well, Shirer is often forced to broadcast the official Nazi line, leaving one wondering what his real thoughts and sentiments were and what was really happening, both in Germany and abroad. So there to an extent it does lack a little bit of context. Shirer does his best with innuendo and sarcasm, but the strain of the censorship must have been almost unbearable.

   I'd recommend people interested in this book also consult "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" also by Shirer, it's a very interesting read and will act as a fabulous companion to this book.

   I found "This is Berlin" to be captivating, events unfolded rapidly and there was lots of suspense, which was interesting since of course we already knew the outcome. Reading the book is like unlocking a time capsule, take yourself back to Berlin and ponder William Shirer's commentary.




3. There can be little doubt that William Shirer was one of the great journalists of the twentieth century. He was a true witness to an unfolding century and nowhere was this more than case than his observations from Nazi Germany.
   
   Unlike many historians looking back at events from a distance and trying to uncover their meanings, Shirer was a virtual participant. He lived in Germany for a number of years, was fluent in the language and had personally met many of the key players first hand. He had attended the Nuremburg rallies, witnessed the rise of the evil of Nazism and was thus in a position to give a first hand account of the events. This he did through his daily radio reports to CBS in America. It is these reports that form the basis of "This is Berlin."
   
   "This is Berlin" can be described as history in the making. While it is true that Shirer had to comply to close censoring of his broadcasts, he was nonetheless able to convey an element of truth by the use of subtlety and nuance that often went of the head of his Nazi minders. Shirer was no Nazi dupe. Rather, he was a rigorous journalist working at the top of his trade.
   
   Shirer is a person whose works should be read by all those searching for details on the horrors of the rise and ultimate decline of the Nazi juggernaut. He was a first rate journalist and writer and this book is testimony to his abilities.



4. "This is Berlin" is another well-written and insightful book by the author of the monumental "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and "Berlin Diary".
   
   The introduction by noted historian John Keegan puts William L. Shirer's work for CBS Radio during the war in perspective, while the preface by Shirer's daughter provides further detail and information on the newspaper correspondent and radio journalist who won fame for his unparalleled coverage of Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
   
   Having immersed himself in contemporary German life, William Shirer was America's man on the spot during the rise to power of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party and the war that followed. The CBS correspondent knew all of the Third Reich's senior civilian and military leaders and the insights he provided during his radio broadcasts to America as history unfolded in Europe were unparalleled.
   
   But as the war progressed, Shirer became increasingly unhappy with a Nazi government that did everything possible to first censor and later stifle altogether his broadcasts. In the end, unable to provide balanced coverage of events, he asked to return home.
   
   This book is best read in conjunction with "Berlin Diary" in which Shirer provides his comments on the war. For example, in "This is Berlin" we read his broadcasts on the British bombing of the German capitol. But in "Berlin Diary" we find his excellent analysis of how a few Royal Air Force bombers managed to keep the entire population of the German city awake, bringing home the true price of war to the Third Reich and resulting in decreased output in the factories of Hitler's key city.
   
   Shirer concluded that had the British or the Allies launched a sustained and much larger bombing campaign on Berlin earlier in the war, Hitler and his Nazis might have had second thoughts about expanding the war. And perhaps German opposition to the Third Reich might have been much stronger.
   
   This tremendously interesting book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of Nazi German, World War II and the struggle of a free press to survive under a totalitarian regime.



5. This is a collection of the transcripts of Shirer's radio broadcasts from Europe, not just Berlin. This book should be read simultaneously with the author's Berlin Diary. The diary shows his real thoughts and the Berlin broadcasts show what the German government officials wanted to be told to the world. There is quite a contrast between the two.

No comments about Let's Go Germany 14th Edition (Let's Go Germany).

No comments about PASTFINDER BERLIN 1945-89: Traces of German History - A Guidebook (Pastfinder).