A UNIQUE EXPLORATION OF GERMAN CULTURE FROM SAUSAGE ADVERTISEMENTS TO WAGNER Sitting on a bench at a communal table in a restaurant in Regensburg his plate loaded with disturbing amounts of bratwurst and sauerkraut made golden by candlelight shining through a massive glass of beer Simon Winder was happily swinging his legs when a couple from Rottweil politely but awkwardly asked: So: why are you here? This book is an attempt to answer that question. Why spend time wandering around a country that remains a sort of dead zone for many foreigners surrounded as it is by a force field of historical linguistic climatic and gastronomic barriers? Winders book is propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant chaotic endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined and that since 1945 so many Germans have worked to rebuild. Germaniais a very funny book on serious topicshow we are misled by history how we twist history and how sometimes it is best to know no history at all. It is a book full of curiosities: odd food castles mad princes fairy tales and horse-mating videos. It is about the limits of language the meaning of culture and the pleasure of townscape.
