Learning From the Germans was selected by the All-Nonfiction Reading Group https://groups.io/g/AllNonfiction for our August read.  If it weren’t for that group I’d miss a LOT of great books!!! 

The author comes from an academic place of Philosophy especially the Enlightenment.  She also writes about history and current issues and that sounds just like she’s right up my alley.

Learning from the Germans:
Race and the Memory of Evil
by Susan Nieman
Read by Christa Lewis – 20h 6m
Rating: 9.5 philosophy – history
(Both read and listened) 

The book is divided into 3 Parts of 3 chapters each totaling 384 pages of text and another 7 pages of End Notes plus a few more pages of extra-textual bringing the total to 418 pages The Parts are 1. German Lessons; 2. Southern Discomfort, and 3. Setting Things Straight.  The basic theme is that we (all of us) can learn from the Germans and fix or perhaps alleviate our race issues which seem to be based in history.   Neiman says we might be at least able to IF we start addressing them head on and accept responsibility for our mistakes.  Germany had to do this and did it, or is doing it. Maybe we can.  

Neiman has roots in both places in that she’s a Jewish woman who was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and has spent time all over the South, as well as in different parts of Germany. Working on this book, that’s what she writes about.   

 Part 1 deals with Germany and its difficult 20th century history. Part 2 goes into the history of Southern attitudes  especially in Mississippi but elsewhere as well, toward race and slavery from the 19th century on, focusing on post-Civil War history. These Parts go up through co. Part 3 dealing with both geographies, but looking particularly at possible solutions for the US. Can we do what the Germans seem to have done (although it’s certainly not over)?   Monuments are given a fair amount of space here but there is some on that in the last chapter as well.   

She uses a certain word, “Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung”  which essentially means “working-off-the-past” and that’s the approach she advocates. But just how do we “work off” the past.  How has Germany been doing it? ? 

The text is told from a 1st person point of view with Neiman reporting on what she sees in her travels and whom she interviews or has informative conversations with. Then she adds her own thoughts.  There are some excellent interviews in Mississippi and a few in Germany as well. A lot of this was absolutely fascinating to me and Neiman writes so beautifully. The philosophy she sticks into the narrative is wonderful and never over my head.  

Sad to say I got bored in a few places. Maybe I was trying to gulp down too much info in too little time. But I really can’t get too far into her solutions because I’m not quite as leftist as she is – she sounds utopian to me and I’m so very pragmatic.  I did read it though.