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Vertigo

The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany

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Vertigo

By: Harald Jähner, Shaun Whiteside - translator
Narrated by: Sam Peter Jackson
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

*An Observer Book of the Year*

Germany, 1918: a country in flux. The First World War is over, the nation defeated. Revolution is afoot, the monarchy has fallen and the victory of democracy beckons. Everything must change with the times.

Out of the ashes of the First World War, Germany launches an unprecedented political project: its first democratic government. The Weimar Republic is established. The years that follow see political extremism, economic upheaval, revolutionary violence and the transformation of Germany. Tradition is shaken to its core as a triumphant procession of liberated lifestyles emerges. Women conquer the racetracks and tennis courts, go out alone in the evenings, cut their hair short and cast the idea of marriage aside. Unisex style comes into fashion, androgynous and experimental. People revel in the discovery of leisure, filling up boxing halls, dance palaces and the hotspots of the New Age, embracing the department stores’ promise of happiness and accepting the streets as a place of fierce political battles.

In this short burst of life between the wars, amidst a frenzy of change, comes a backlash from those who do not see themselves reflected in the new Republic. Little by little, deep divisions begin to emerge. Divisions that would bring devastating consequences, altering the course of the twentieth century and the lives of millions around the world. Vertigo is a vital, kaleidoscopic portrait of a pivotal moment in German history.

'One of the most gripping accounts... of the Nazis' rise to power. It contains many lessons for the world now.' - John Kampfner, bestselling author of Why The Germans Do It Better
'Outstanding... This is history at its very best.' - Julia Boyd, bestselling author of Travellers in the Third Reich

©2024 Harald Jähner (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 20th Century Europe Germany Modern Politics & Government War Imperialism Socialism Capitalism

Critic Reviews

The Weimar Republic is a byword for hedonism and excess. A new history captures the mood with gusto … For obvious reasons most histories of the Weimar years are dominated by politics, with Hitler and his cronies lurking ominously on the margins. But Jähner’s account is more unconventional, more surprising and, frankly, more enjoyable … I enjoyed it enormously.
Harald Jähner’s vivid history depicts Germany’s dizzying era of change — and its catastrophic finale … Vertigo presents not a chronicle of events but a tapestry of mass emotions … Jähner’s approach not only carries a heavy cultural spin but puts the politics of collective feeling — from exhilaration to despair — centre stage … Vertigo draws well on the brilliant reporters and commentators of a time when journalism — as practised by giants such as Kurt Tucholsky or Joseph Roth — enjoyed a 'stylistic and perceptive heyday'Jähner benefits hugely from Shaun Whiteside’s swift and agile translation, always alert to the edgy, crackling modernity of Weimar prose.
Polarised, gullible, narcissistic, wild: does this picture of society sound familiar? Jähner surveys the brief life of the Weimar Republic, in all its Charleston-dancing, free-loving, money-burning madness, and hints at eerie parallels with the West today.
From women in the workplace to traffic lights, from yo-yos to dance culture, Jähner tracks the 15 chaotic years of the Weimar Republic with his characteristic verve and attention to detail. This is one of the most gripping accounts of an era spanning war defeat, humiliation and failed revolution in 1918 to the violence, intimidation and propaganda of the Nazis' rise to power in 1933. It contains many lessons for the world now.
Vertigo is outstanding. Harald Jähner’s gift for illuminating the big picture with telling detail gives the reader an uncanny sense of what it was actually like to be present in Germany during the Weimar Republic. This is history at its very best.
Wonderfully written and compulsively, electrifyingly readable. The Weimar Republic and its chilling fall is – like Shakespearean tragedy – an enduringly fascinating, profoundly human story. And with consummate skill and a rich breadth of research, Harald Jähner makes us look again at what we thought we knew and gives this history new, extraordinary depth. Taking us through the neurotic violence of the 1918 German revolution, and the neon flowering of Weimar art and culture, thence to the dark rise of Hitler, Jähner deftly overturns many old assumptions about economics and politics along the way. And against this backdrop, he also invites us to explore everything from nude gymnastics to modernist architecture, fast cars to dance halls and, fundamentally, love and loss and the cold horror of hate.
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