Germania · In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History by Winder, Simon -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Copyright Dedication Contents Maps Introduction

‘Bound with chains of flowers’ A note on Germany and German

Chapter One

From the land of gloomy forests Roman Germans An alligator far from home I’ll have some green sauce with that The medieval car park

Chapter Two

Ancient palaces Charles the Great Pious, Bald or Fat A very small town Spreading the Word In search of a bit of sunshine Thrust to the east

Chapter Three

Walled towns Other superiority complexes A brief note on political structures German tribes Famine and plague Where a million diamonds shine

Chapter Four

The tideless sea The curse of Burgundy Happy families Rampant folk costume Imperial circles Habsburgs

Chapter Five

Spires, turrets and towers A birthplace and a death-house The devil’s bagpipes The ruler of the world The New Jerusalem An unhappy wine merchant

Chapter Six

The Golden City of the Faithful The land where lemon blossom grows Black armour The King of Sweden’s horse A surprise visit from an asteroid

Chapter Seven

Hourglasses and bird-eating spiders ‘Music to Escort the Dead from this Life’ In the time of powdered wigs Damascened yataghans ‘Burn the Palatinate!’ Catholicism goes for broke

Chapter Eight

The descendants of Cyrus the Great Drinking chocolate with ostriches More competitive tomb-building Chromatic fantasia and fugue The Strong and the Fat

Chapter Nine

Little Sophie Zerbst Parks and follies In the footsteps of Goethe A glass pyramid filled with robin eggs A surprise appearance by a sea cow German victimhood Good-value chicken

Chapter Ten

Marches militaires Karl and Albrecht Girls in turrets Heroic acorns Victory columns

Chapter Eleven

The grandeur and misery of nationalism Snow-shake particularism A surprise trip to Mexico

Chapter Twelve

Lambs and ladybirds Jigsaw country Hunting masters Ruritania, Syldavia and their friends An absence

Chapter Thirteen

Beside the seaside Texan Wends Pidgin German Thomas and Ernie Podsnap in Berlin Varieties of militarism

Chapter Fourteen

Failure The British–German divorce Disaster Defeat and revolution Remembering the dead Some royal aftershocks

Chapter Fifteen

An unattractive lake Putsches and suspenders ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .’ The death of science Terminal throes Ending

Conclusion

In the hills Mendel’s statue Death by oompah

Bibliography Illustrations Acknowledgements Index