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Aftermath by Harald Jähner
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Aftermath

Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich
by Harald Jähner
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Narrator Sam Peter Jackson

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Translator Shaun Whiteside
Length 11 hours 42 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

***SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2021***

Germany, 1945: a country in ruins. Cities have been reduced to rubble and more than half of the population are where they do not belong or do not want to be. How can a functioning society ever emerge from this chaos?

In bombed-out Berlin, Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, journalist and member of the Nazi resistance, warms herself by a makeshift stove and records in her diary how a frenzy of expectation and industriousness grips the city. The Americans send Hans Habe, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and US army soldier, to the frontline of psychological warfare - tasked with establishing a newspaper empire capable of remoulding the minds of the Germans. The philosopher Hannah Arendt returns to the country she fled to find a population gripped by a manic loquaciousness, but faces a deafening wall of silence at the mention of the Holocaust.

Aftermath is a nuanced panorama of a nation undergoing monumental change. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras that proved decisive for Germany's future - and one starkly different to how most of us imagine it today. Featuring black and white photographs and posters from post-war Germany - some beautiful, some revelatory, some shocking - Aftermath evokes an immersive portrait of a society corrupted, demoralised and freed - all at the same time.

'Magisterial, fascinating, humane - a brilliant book of the greatest importance and achievement' PHILIPPE SANDS

'Absolutely extraordinary. Every page stops you dead with insight and revelation' JAMES HAWES

'For those who want to understand the Germans, Aftermath is essential reading. Anyone with even the slightest interest in history and the human condition should read this book' JULIA BOYD

© Harald Jähner 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

HistoryNonfiction

Harald Jähner is a cultural journalist and former editor of the Berliner Zeitung. He was also an honorary professor of cultural journalism at the Berlin University of the Arts. His book Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich was shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in the UK and won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for Non-Fiction in his native Germany.

Shaun Whiteside is an award-winning translator from French, German, Italian and Dutch. His most recent translations from German include Aftermath by Harald Jähner, To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann, Swansong 1945 by Walter Kempowski, Berlin Finale by Heinz Rein and The Broken House by Horst Krüger.

Audiobook details

Author
Narrator Sam Peter Jackson
ISBN 9781846574603
Length 11 hours 42 minutes
Language English
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Publication date
Edition Unabridged
Genres History & Nonfiction
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Reviews

Subtle, perceptive and beautifully written Highly readable... Counter-intuitive but thoughtful Exemplary [and] important... This is the kind of book few writers possess the clarity of vision to write A masterpiece Magnificent... There are great lessons in the nature of humanity to be learnt here Jähner is masterly in telling the tragic, despicable, comedic and uplifting stories of those who were there as he takes his readers on a fascinating tour through rubble-strewn postwar Germany Thought-provoking... Jähner's unflinching account is a reminder that historical truths are rarely simple and always nuanced Magisterial, fascinating, humane - a brilliant book of the greatest importance and achievement I thought I knew the essential story of Germany's immediate post-war years. This book brilliantly adds to, indeed changes, my understanding. One of the best historians and authors of contemporary Germany, Jähner paints an absorbing, human and surprising picture This panoramic journey through Germany in the ruins of the Third Reich is unforgettably thought-provoking [and] intensely moving [Jähner] does double duty in this fascinating book, elegantly marshaling a plethora of facts while also using his critical skills to wry effect. Even though Aftermath covers historical ground, its narrative is intimate, filled with first-person accounts An extraordinary book of breathtaking scholarship. Jähner shines a light on a dark and almost forgotten period of German history to find it pulsating with life What does total defeat mean? Germany 1945-55. Ten years of poverty, ruins, fear, violence, black markets, manic hard work, inventive sex - and always, always, silence about the murdered millions of the Third Reich. A fascinating read. Absolutely extraordinary. Every page stops you dead with insight and revelation. Aftermath is that rare thing, a history book that turns what you knew completely on its head. It is testament to Harald Jähner's achievement that Aftermath is a book that I will never forget For those who want to understand the Germans, Aftermath is essential reading. An engrossing study on all counts, Jähner's analysis of people's response to the Nazis' monstrous crimes and how perpetrators and victims merged into a new nation is especially compelling. Anyone with even the slightest interest in history and the human condition should read this book. A fascinating account of a forgotten moment in Europe's history, of utter desperation leading to tentative hope. A fiercely compelling book that brings vivid illumination to an era of twilight and brutal ruins. Harald Jähner beautifully explores the hinterland of human nature in all its shades Aftermath is a transfixing account and subtle analysis. A scrupulous investigation of the past, it reads, constantly, like a prelude to what is still unfolding. Aftermath captures brilliantly the atmosphere of everyday life in the destroyed cities of divided postwar Germany Many consider the years before 1945 to be the most crucial in understanding Germany and the Germans. Wait until you have read this book. Harald Jähner's deeply researched, panoramic account of how Germany rebuilt and discovered itself from 1945-1955 is an eye-opening, thrilling read A magnificent overview of the astonishing decade in Germany that followed the defeat of Nazism Eye-opening and often moving... a sobering look at how societies rebuild [A] thoughtful narrative... filling the yawning gap on bookshop shelves between a growing number of modern German history texts and the oversupply of Nazi studies that end in Hitler's bunker Aftermath takes in the immediate postwar years where Germany was administered by the Allies... Jähner excels Fascinating... Books about Word War II continue to spill out by the ton, but there has been less attention paid to how Germans coped with the country's shameful Nazi past after the conflict was over Rarely has a non-fiction book so skilfully combined vividness, drama and eloquence. Jähner's gripping 500-page X-ray-vision tale of an often overlooked and misperceived phase of German history reveals, like all great history books, as much about the first decade after the war as about today. Clearly written, full of empathy for everyday life, which is far too seldom taken into consideration... You devour it like a novel. A popular work of non-fiction in the best sense. A reminder that the German experience will always stand apart Extraordinary... One of the most evocative pieces of carefully researched history that I have ever read. It's a remarkable piece of work Expand reviews
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