No comments about Germany (Cadogan Guides).

No comments about Living the Past.

No comments about Cologne Cathedral.

5 comments about The Rough Guide to Germany 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. I first picked up the "Rough Guide to West Germany" in 1990, and have bought every update since. The key to remember is that the guide is written for the average tourist, not for someone that lives in Essen. Having said that, I have lived in Europe for 8 years, and find the guide indispensible. The beginning chapters provide you with all the essential information you need to plan the trip, including tourist office addresses, best prices for airlines, reminds you to purchase Eurail passes while still at home, etc. The guide itself is written in a slightly irreverant way, giving a wide berth to commercial tourist attractions in favor of historically significant areas. It lists accomodation (sp?) for all price classes, and even directs you to a good meal in individual cities. The guide stands as a good read, even if you aren't travelling. It gives you everything as advertised, and then some.



2. I was living in Germany at the time and this was my least favorite guide book. I really disliked the way it was formated and the fact that some of the info was wrong. Yucky book!!!



3. I don't understand the very negative reviews. The book may not be perfect, but there is no better German travel guide out there. Believe me, I've looked through bookstores and have not found anything close. I used an older edition (along with "Let's Go Germany") while living in Germany in '98 and use the updated one for frequent return trips. This book's strengths:

   1. It was written by a Brit a with a sense of humor, honesty, and a good grasp of German history. If a tourist spot is lame, he is open about it.
   2. It has good coverage of quaint, off-the-tourist-track towns which are not covered in other resources. These are the best places to visit because they tend to be attractive, less touristy, and inexpensive.
   3. I have found this book's hotel recommendations to be superior. The lists of accomodations are extensive and accurately described. Good recommendations for low/medium priced bed & breakfast type places.

   For the most part, I've been pleased with this book and recommend it over anything else currently on the market.




4. I have no ability to ascertain what the average person looks for in a travel book, but this volume fufilled all of the basic needs that I had. It gives the reader information about the many areas of the country, including prices, popular attractions, and practical information such as how to use the public telephones (not obvious!), etc... My favorite aspect of the book is that it gives detailed listings ofresturants and eateries within a wide price range. I hesitate to give this book a better rating, simply because the introductory history is somewhat biased and maybe unecessary ( unless you have no familiarity with german histoy. ) and the book is narrated in a fashion that I found slightly vague and irritating. ex; the book mentions that there is always plenty going on in Goettingen, but neglects to say what... but thats trivial, really, and it will answer your basic travel concerns.



5. Really a quite excellent source of information covering off the beaten track, for the self-exploring traveler, advice, regarding accommodations and tourist sites. Recommendations I gleaned from this guide provided me with a truly memorable vacation in Southern Germany such as attending a dragon festival that had its origins in the 14th century Bavarian forest village of Furth-im-Wald. If you like your traveling independence, but only wish you had a friend who lived in the neighborhood who could makes some suggestions, you'll love this book.

No comments about Passport's Illustrated Travel Guide to Munich & Bavaria (Passport's Illustrated Travel Guides).

No comments about Baedeker Rhine (Baedeker's Travel Guides).

2 comments about Karen Brown's Germany: Charming Inns & Itineraries 2004 (Karen Brown Guides/Distro Line).

1. These books have been very helpful on our two trips to Europe. I have found every hotel review to be accurate. The authors also give great ideas for side trips and useful maps. You can plan your whole vacation using these books.

   If you want to find charming smaller hotels in Europe this books is your best bet. If you prefer a larger American Style hotel or resort this is not the book for you.




2. When I planned my first trip to Germany, back in 2000, I read through a copy of Karen Brown's guide that I'd taken out of the library. I recall sniffing at it: the hotels it listed were all the expensive, elegant places that I couldn't afford. And there was something about the itineraries that bothered me -- perhaps an emphasis on elegance (presumably at the expense of experiencing the real country).

   However, during my vacation, we found ourselves following much of the Black Forest itinerary that the (then-current) book suggested, and discovered that one of the hotels we picked -- a lovely one in Triberg -- was on her list.

   I've now been to Germany twice, and am planning a third trip. I've looked at this guide once more, and (now that I'm familar with the country) I am incredibly impressed by it. My initial criticisms, four years ago, were completely off the mark. I've done at least part of a few of her itineraries, and they really are very good.

   While it's recommended that you stay a day or two in the major cities (such as Munich), these really get only an arm wave. (You'll want another book that focuses on them.) Where this book shines is in sending you -- in a car, this isn't for the train traveler -- along a well defined route to see stuff outside the litany of museums and yet-another-church.

   In addition, those itineraries take you through regions that other books simply ignore. I've found that several books completely ignore the Black Forest, or briefly mention Frieberg and Baden-Baden. The DK book (which does have beautiful pictures) gives a single page to Baden-Baden, for instance; this one has three or four, including some idea of what to expect at the famous spas.

   Plus, unlike a lot of guide books, this one gives you some idea of how much time to budget for each leg of the trip. For instance, she points out that it's a 5-hour drive from point-a to point-b along this stretch of the Alpine Road, but between lunch and sightseeing you should expect to stay a full day.

   The only earlier criticism that did apply -- an emphasis on expensive places to stay -- has been addressed, as there are now several places listed for 80 euros rather than 200.

   I now have quite a collection of Germany tour books. This one's sure to be among the ones I pack along.

No comments about A Hedonist's Guide to Berlin (A Hedonist's Guide to...).

No comments about Amsterdam (Falk Plan).

3 comments about Wilhelm Marr: The Patriarch of Anti-Semitism (Studies in Jewish History).

1. This book is the biography of the German revolutionary Wilhelm Marr. Marr was a radical revolutionary left wing intellectual who based his philosophy on that of the Left Hegelian Ludwig Feuerbach, advocating atheism and maintaining an anti-Christian and antiSemitic belief system. He became known as a journalist and editor of the paper _Mephistopheles_ during the nineteenth century. He became known for his antiSemitism (and may have originated the term "antiSemitism") despite the fact that he was to have a series of Jewish wives after writing a book entitled _The Jewish Mirror_ (_Der Judenspiegel_). He also involved himself in business deals in America where he may have participated in the slave trade and the ensuing debate over slavery. After having met the Italian liberal nationalist intellectual and founder of the "Young Europe" movement, Giuseppe Mazzini, Marr became enamored of this individual and earned for himself the title of "The German Mazzini". Subsequently, Marr would write another infamous antiSemitic text, _The Victory of Judaism Over Germanism_. During this period, Marr's political alignments began to shift so that he became favored in certain reactionary circles. Marr also became involved with the Anti-Semitic League at this time. Later in his life after having several failed business dealings, Marr would come to criticize antiSemitism. He argued that antiSemites were fostering an environment harmful to the poor worker in the same manner that the Jews themselves were. At this point, Marr renounced his antiSemitism as well as his previous reactionary leanings and returned to his original revolutionary beliefs. Marr died in relative obscurity, penniless. However, he had made a name for himself as the instigator of antiSemitism and perhaps as the man who coined that very term. Marr generally comes across as a rather despicable individual despite the fact that he would later come to at least partially repent of some of his antiSemitic beliefs (though never of his atheism and anti-Christian beliefs). He played some role as a prophet who foretold the coming of the Third Reich and the horrendous evils of the twentieth century, although he would be rejected by the actual intellectuals of the Third Reich, as would the term he coined - antiSemitism. Marr's place is among the antiSemitic left wing revolutionary intellectuals such as the musician Richard Wagner in Germany in the century before the coming of the World Wars. This book provides a good biography of an obscure figure who played some role in predicting the coming events in the German nation in the twentieth century. It is to be recommended despite the fact that its central figure is certainly less than savory.



2. I was researching this guy on the internet and found out the prototypical anti-semite was, in fact, the son of the famous jewish actor Heinrich Marr. Perhaps this explains why he always married jewish women. Will add more after I read this one.
   
   Edit: After further research, it appears I was mistaken about that. Too bad as I enjoy the irony like that - such as when Republican 'family values' politicians get arrested for sexual peccadilloes.



3. This book is an excellent study on Wilhelm Marr. The book is especially valuable because it is based on a variety of primar sources. It is based on the huge collection of manuscripts and literary remains of Marr, stored in the Archives of Hamburg.