Humanities & Social Sciences
July 2020
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Society & culture: generalA TIME OF WOLVES: GERMANY AND THE GERMANS 1945 - 1955
by Harald Jähner
A dance among the ruins: Harald Jähner’s major new portrait of Germany’s post-war societyCountless former soldiers drift through the towns and cities; countless children grow up without a father. The old order has been destroyed and although the streets seem eerily empty, the traditional annual street carnivals are soon back in full swing, jazz can be heard among the ruins, intellectuals rekindle a culture of discussion and debate.Harald Jähner’s book is the first history of Germany’s national mentality in the immediate post-war period. It focusses on the German people in all their diversity: the “re-educators” Alfred Döblin and Rudolf Herrnstadt, who tried in two different zones of occupation to win the trust of their fellow Germans; Beate Uhse, owner of a mail order company for “marital hygiene”, who questioned the old moral code governing what was deemed proper; the many nameless black market traders, pockets stuffed with Lucky Strike cigarettes; stylish housewives sitting at kidney-shaped coffee tables that were to become emblematic for a freer and affordable world. Using major political developments as a backdrop, this book weaves a series of life stories into a nuanced panorama that makes the monumental changes affecting the nation tangible for its readers. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras, portrayed here as a period that proved decisive for Germany’s future development – and one starkly different to how most Germans imagine it today.
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Humanities & Social SciencesPRAISE FOR LONG-TERM LOVE – WHY IT SUCCEEDS AND IS IRREPLACEABLE
by Werner Bartens
Couples in the early stages of a relationship have countless guides to choose from. But what about those who have been together for a while or for a really long time? A long relationship always gives rise to questions – regardless of whether the partners are in their thirties, forties or fifties. Around two thirds of all couples are uncertain about their relationship, and question – either openly or secretly – whether they want to carry on like this. Dr Werner Bartens says that those who give up on a long-standing relationship are giving up on a treasure trove of shared experiences and trust that the couple has built up over the years. Research has shown that those who are in a relationship are healthier and happier and, in contrast to what singles might think, have a lot more sex. But a long relationship is also demanding - Werner Bartens explains what matters in a proper relationship, regardless of age. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have butterflies in your tummy – in fact, it’s better, says Bartens, because you will feel as happy in your long relationship as you felt at the beginning of it. Relationship guides almost always address couples who have recently got together. But what about the many couples who look at their relationships after years and find themselves dissatisfied? Finally, a relationship book for couples who have been together for a while. You ask yourself: is this just the way it is, or can I change things? Can I revitalise our partnership? Doctor and publicist Werner Bartens has written a book that really helps people in this situation.
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Humanities & Social SciencesHOMECOMING
by Wolfgang Büscher
In the middle of the woods, in the middle of Germany: Wolfgang Büscher‘s fascinating journey into its very core. Night after night, a boy stands at the window of his parents’ house and watches the sun as it disappears from view behind the rolling hills in the west. He roams through the woods with his friends, building wooden shacks which the foresters destroy. It’s the early sixties. Decades later, Wolfgang Büscher makes his childhood dream come true. He moves to the woods and experiences spring, summer and autumn there. An aristocratic family on the border of Hessen and Westphalia where Büscher grew up allows him to stay in a hunting lodge in the middle of the woods, in the middle of Germany. This is where he puts up his camp bed. He has no electricity or running water. He prepares himself for quiet times alone, chopping wood and making fires, the odd hunting expedition, hiking, a marksmen’s festival, extreme loneliness and a nighttime blackness never seen in the city. The year takes an unexpectedly dramatic turn as storms, heat and plagues of beetles kill half of the woods. And something else happens which turns everything on its head: Büscher’s mother dies that summer, meaning the house he grew up in is left empty, but full of memories. This is a homecoming more existential than he could have imagined. A book far removed from the deafening din of today‘s world. An exploration of a nation, floods of memories and a “sentimental education” all rolled into one - literary, perceptive and overwhelming.
