Interesting short book- decided to read it as it was shown on the Goethe Institut shelf at a library.

The title is mildly misleading, talking about Berlin- while the subtitle is more to the point, as over half of the pages are actually discussing the transition from the German "Sonderweg" (or Sonderwege, as it covers post-WWI, the period leading to WWII, WWII, the partitioning in two of the country, and the still-in-progress convergence toward a unified country).

It is short but dense- a second reason to pick up this book was the name of the author, as I heard him in few conferences, including at the Goethe Institut of Turin, and it is always interesting to listen to what he says, also if you disagree with him.

For my Italian (or those interested in Italy) connections: the book is in Italian, and while talking of Germany and its path toward re-invention as a new, more ordinary country, it reminded me reading a biography from Gall on Bismarck (https://www.librarything.com/work/1061052/book/103478569).

Reason? There is so much about Italy in the current (and recent, from WWII) soul-searching of Germany, but I will let others extract their reasons why.

What is interesting in this short book, and why I wrote that is "dense", it is than in less than 100 pages Rusconi is able to give a kind of "Pictures at an exhibition" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXy50exHjes) fast-forward through debates in Germany (BRD and DDR first, then the "new" unified Germany) about its own history.

Just quick brushes that often would deserve each a chapter (and from the few paragraphs, probably the author has in his mind an essay for each theme), but enough to give an overview and seed few doubts- worth, if you are interested, either considering in the back of your mind whenever you read about positions taken by Germany e.g. on European integration, or getting through the paragraphs to read the authors and books or articles discussed.

A quick read, but better taken in small pills, to have time to absorb it- and maybe re-read it after getting through some of the works discussed that (as in my case) you haven't read. ( )