Germany

This translation of the second volume of Heinrich August Winkler's monumental work on Germany's ‘Special Path’ from authoritarian nationalism to Western ‘normality’ is much to be welcomed.1 Winkler has been fortunate in his choice of translator. Professor Sager writes fluently and conveys the meaning of the original with clarity and sensitivity. Winkler addresses a question which has divided historians in West Germany and elsewhere for many years: did the German nation state differ in some fundamental sense from its neighbours in Western Europe? Was it hampered in its political development by having followed a Sonderweg, or special path? This interpretation of German history, favoured at different times and for different reasons by both German nationalists and their foreign critics, has been firmly decried in recent decades. Winkler makes a strong case for reviving it, albeit in a far more differentiated and sophisticated fashion than that of its earlier adherents

Archaeology · Authoritarianism · CLARITY · Democracy · Epistemology · German · Interpretation (philosophy · Meaning (existential · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · European history and politics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy