Why the Germans Do It Better

Author: John Kampfner
Publisher: Atlantic Books (UK)
ISBN: 9781786499783
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Emerging from a collection of city states 150 years ago, no other country has had as turbulent a history as Germany or enjoyed so much prosperity in such a short time frame. Today, as much of the world succumbs to authoritarianism and democracy is undermined from its heart, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability. Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a critical and entertaining exploration of the country many in the West still love to hate. Raising important questions for our post-Brexit landscape, Kampfner asks why, despite its faults, Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain fails to tackle contemporary challenges. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, Why the Germans Do It Better is a rich and witty portrait of an eternally fascinating country.

Doing Business in Germany

Author: Andra Riemhofer
Publisher: Business Expert Press
ISBN: 1948198851
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
The focus of the book is to help readers understand how certain concepts and values influence the way Germans like to do business. Germany is the strongest economy in Europe, and one of the largest worldwide. The business climate is good, people are highly skilled, and consumers have plenty of spending money in their pockets; for companies that are doing business internationally, Germany is a market that simply cannot be overlooked. However, many business relationships with Germans come to an end even before they begin; intercultural differences very often result in misunderstandings, frustration, and an unnecessary loss of time and money. Especially with Germans, even small things can be crucial when you are speaking to a (potential) business contact. This book aims at helping students and professionals avoid the common pitfalls that international business people typically step into when dealing with Germans for the very first time. Unlike with the other business- or text-books focusing on culture, this book will do more than just arm you with some simple “Dos and Don’ts;” it will provide interesting and easy-to- understand descriptions and anecdotes that highlight the cultural standards and dimensions that are (typically) theoretically discussed in scientific texts. Essentially, while talking about what makes “the average” German tick, readers will be equipped with the relevant background knowledge. The focus of the book is to help readers understand how certain concepts and values influence the way Germans like to do business. It will guide them on how to successfully interact with Germans, whether at trade shows, during virtual and face-to-face meetings, or when they are negotiating their first contract.

When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do

Author: Hyde Flippo
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071771883
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
Never feel like a stranger in Germany again! On entering a restaurant, should you find your own table or wait to be seated? What is a suitable topic for small-talk with a stranger? In what circumstances might you ask to borrow ein Handy? All these answers and more can be found in When in Germany, Do As the Germans Do, a fun and intriguing book that teaches you about Germany's culture, language, and people. It features 120 intriguing multiple-choice questions that are cross-referenced to fascinating articles on pop culture, customs, behavior, history, consumer trends, literature, tourist sights, business, language, and more. Also included are key terms and useful expressions, informative charts, and websites for further reference.

Learning from the Germans

Author: Susan Neiman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374715521
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Book Description
As an increasingly polarized America fights over the legacy of racism, Susan Neiman, author of the contemporary philosophical classic Evil in Modern Thought, asks what we can learn from the Germans about confronting the evils of the past In the wake of white nationalist attacks, the ongoing debate over reparations, and the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and the contested memories they evoke, Susan Neiman’s Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. Neiman is a white woman who came of age in the civil rights–era South and a Jewish woman who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin. Working from this unique perspective, she combines philosophical reflection, personal stories, and interviews with both Americans and Germans who are grappling with the evils of their own national histories. Through discussions with Germans, including Jan Philipp Reemtsma, who created the breakthrough Crimes of the Wehrmacht exhibit, and Friedrich Schorlemmer, the East German dissident preacher, Neiman tells the story of the long and difficult path Germans faced in their effort to atone for the crimes of the Holocaust. In the United States, she interviews James Meredith about his battle for equality in Mississippi and Bryan Stevenson about his monument to the victims of lynching, as well as lesser-known social justice activists in the South, to provide a compelling picture of the work contemporary Americans are doing to confront our violent history. In clear and gripping prose, Neiman urges us to consider the nuanced forms that evil can assume, so that we can recognize and avoid them in the future.

The German Way

Author: Hyde Flippo
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN: 9780844225135
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description
For All Students Ideal for a variety of courses, this completely up-to-date, alphabetically organized handbook helps students understand how people from German-speaking nations think, do business, and act in their daily lives.

When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do, 2nd Edition

Author: Hyde Flippo
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 126012164X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 150

Book Description
Transform yourself from a typical tourist into a connoisseur of German culture!Do you want to travel to Deutschland without feeling like a Dummkopf! To blend in when visiting Berlin? To feel like you belong in Bavaria? When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do makes it simple to navigate the narrow streets of an Alpine village unnoticed or to go to a movie in Munich without turning heads. With this crash course in German customs and heritage, you’ll avoid embarrassing blunders and enrich your travel experience.Packed with 120 articles, this handy collection of cultural dos and don’ts covers a broad range of topics, including food, art, pop culture, politics, business, entertainment, home life, history, and education. In these pages you’ll find authoritative answers to questions such as:●At a restaurant, should I find my own table or wait to be seated?●What is a suitable topic for small talk with a stranger?●What is the fastest train service in Germany?●How many varieties of sausage are there?●What is the unofficial division between north and south Germany called?●How do Germans usually pay for online purchases?●What is the main emergency number to call in Germany?With light-hearted quizzes, links to cool websites, this new edition of When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do has been fully updated to provide insights into all aspects of contemporary German culture, and will delight everyone from students and tourists to armchair travelers and trivia buffs.

Reluctant Meister

Author: Stephen Green
Publisher: Haus Publishing
ISBN: 1908323698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Book Description
The Euro crisis has served as a stark reminder of the fundamental importance of Germany to the larger European project. But the image of Germany as the dominant power in Europe is at odds with much of its recent history. Reluctant Meister is a wide-ranging study of Germany from the Holy Roman Empire through the Second and Third Reichs, and it asks not only how such a mature and developed culture could have descended into the barbarism of Nazism but how it then rebuilt itself within a generation to become an economic powerhouse. Perhaps most important, Stephen Green examines to what extent Germany will come to dominate its relationship with its neighbors in the European Union, and what that will mean.

German Men Sit Down to Pee and Other Insights Into German Culture

Author: MR Niklas Frank
Publisher: Hj Publishing
ISBN: 9780995481305
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Welcome to Germany, a country where you should always wait at the red man, show up on time for your wedding, and be extremely suspicious if anyone offers you a doughnut. 'German men sit down to pee' is a tongue-in-cheek guidebook to German culture that highlights the rules Germans consciously and unconsciously follow, while trying to make a little sense of it all along the way. Why, for example, mowing your lawn on a Sunday will mean getting an earful from your neighbour, but lie naked in the middle of a public park and nobody will bat an eyelid. Ideal for anyone visiting or moving to Germany, 'German Men Sit Down to Pee' offers a collection of insights into German culture while at the same time highlighting rules and cultural norms that those visiting Germany will not only find humorous but useful for avoiding any cultural faux-pas.

They Thought They Were Free

Author: Milton Mayer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652597X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
National Book Award Finalist: Never before has the mentality of the average German under the Nazi regime been made as intelligible to the outsider.” —The New York TImes They Thought They Were Free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in Germany. Milton Mayer’s book is a study of ten Germans and their lives from 1933-45, based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in Germany. Mayer had a position as a research professor at the University of Frankfurt and lived in a nearby small Hessian town which he disguised with the name “Kronenberg.” These ten men were not men of distinction, according to Mayer, but they had been members of the Nazi Party; Mayer wanted to discover what had made them Nazis. His discussions with them of Nazism, the rise of the Reich, and mass complicity with evil became the backbone of this book, an indictment of the ordinary German that is all the more powerful for its refusal to let the rest of us pretend that our moment, our society, our country are fundamentally immune. A new foreword to this edition by eminent historian of the Reich Richard J. Evans puts the book in historical and contemporary context. We live in an age of fervid politics and hyperbolic rhetoric. They Thought They Were Free cuts through that, revealing instead the slow, quiet accretions of change, complicity, and abdication of moral authority that quietly mark the rise of evil.

Keeping Up With the Germans

Author: Philip Oltermann
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571279910
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 157

Book Description
In 1996, in the middle of watching an ill-tempered football match between England and Germany, Philip Oltermann's parents tell him that they are going to leave their home city Hamburg behind and move to London. Inspired by his own experience of both countries, Philip Oltermann looks at eight historical encounters between English and German people from the last two hundred years: Helmut Kohl tries to explain German cuisine to the Iron Lady, the Mini plays catch-up with the Volkswagen Beetle, and Joe Strummer has an unlikely brush with the Baader-Meinhof gang. Keeping Up with the Germans is a witty look at the lighter-side of Anglo-German relations over the last 100 years.