"All I really wanted was to try and live the life that was spontaneously welling up within me. Why was that so very difficult?" Generations of readers have recognized the impassioned cry that introduces the young narrator of Demian, and embraced this tale of a troubled young man's struggle toward self-awareness. Initially published in Berlin in 1919, the novel met with instant critical acclaim, as well as great popular success among people seeking...

This illustrated study of Renaissance Nuremberg explores the city's social and artistic history through the sixteenth century and beyond. The German city of Nuremberg reached the height of its artistic brilliance during the Renaissance, becoming one of the foremost cultural centers in all of Europe by 1500. Nuremberg was the home of painter Albrecht Dürer, whose creative genius inspired generations of German artists. However, Dürer was only...

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

In this definitive analysis of the Weimar Republic, Hans Mommsen surveys the political, social, and economic development of Germany between the end of World War I and the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor in 1933. His assessment of the German experiment with democracy challenges many long-held assumptions about the course and character of German history. Mommsen argues persuasively that the rise of totalitarianism in Germany was not inevitable...

Explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, an unholy covenant whose creation and dissolution were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by the German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. Together, the Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided central and eastern Europe;...

"The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Third Reich in January 1945. Frenzied by their terrible experiences with Wehrmacht and SS brutality, they wreaked havoc--tanks crushing refugee columns, mass rape, pillage, and unimaginable destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred; more than seven million fled westward from the fury of the Red Army. It was the most terrifying...

"Slip behind the Iron Curtain into a world of smoke, secrets, and lies in this stunning novel where someone is always listening and nothing is as it seems. Noah Keller has a pretty normal life, until one wild afternoon when his parents pick him up from school and head straight for the airport, telling him on the ride that his name isn't really Noah and he didn't really just turn eleven in March. And he can't even ask them why, not because of his Astonishing...

Mitchell believes that the history of the French Third Republic remains incomplete until one understands the German impact on France after the Franco-Prossian War. As the French groped unsteadily toward a redefinition of their national identity, they were constantly under the influence of the victorious German reich, indicating that the creation of a republican mentality cannot be explained in strictly French terms nor can its origins be traced solely...

"A vibrant look at Berlin--perhaps Europe's most exciting city--since the fall of the Wall"-- "A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe's most charismatic and engimatic city. It isn't Europe's most beautiful city, or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome...

Presents three stories by the brothers Grimm, including a dim-witted yet well-intentioned married couple and a simple boy in love with a village girl.