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Summary: Timely relook at German militarism
Review: At a time when young people in Germany are trying to understand their history from a new perspective, Jim Roy has put together a fascinating history of East Prussia - often viewed as the seat of German militarism.Jim 's ability to capture images and contrast stereotypes with historical and present reality, gives this book a jounalistic immediacy that makes it exciting to read. A new kind of historical analysis - a captivating jounalistic view of the past.
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Summary: Excelent Book 'Rated by tru East Prussian"
Review: Extremely nicely written book. Brings allot of heroic points to view which other books have failed to do. Brings in more nationalistic feeling to my self. Being an East Prussian and having no true homeland is kind of hard. If you like history, buy this book you wont be sorry. I would give it 10 stars out of 5.
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Summary: Very well written, one sided, poorly investigated, unhistori
Review: From start to finish the book is a huge disappointment. For a region like Prussia, that was changing it's borders at least twice in a century the author is providing only one map from 1939, and even that is full of mistakes - rivers that don't exist, Kulm in East Prussia instead of in Poland, major cities misnamed. For the very unique and controversial subject of the prussian history the author chose the long discarded even by German historians, 19th century 'Borussian Myth' - drawing a straight line from the Teutonic Knights' rulership, through the Hohenzollern rule to the unification of Germany. All the elements of Polish history of the land are carefully omitted. Author interviews members of German nobility, aristocracy and German historians. When it comes to the Polish side he talks to car dealers, street drunks and other incompetent sources to show polish ignorance and lack of deep insight. Entire two chapters are devoted to an interview with a Jewish concentration camp survivor and an anti-Polish fanatic. This part is completely irrelevant to the subject of the book (Prussia), it just allows to show Poles in the worst possible light and portray them as primitive, blood thirsty, genetically anti-semitic beasts, responsible for entire Jewish holocaust in WW2. 'Germans were killing Jews only when they were ordered to, but Poles killed Jews whenever they had an opportunity, just for plain joy and pleasure, to satisfy their animal instincts' - that's basically the message contained in the book. There is no mention in the book about the 300 year history of Royal Prussia - a Polish province from 1454. The consistently pro-Polish loyalty of the people inhabiting the Prussian Provinces, even through the difficult war times, never appears in the book. The 15, 16 and 17th century symbol of Prussia - the Prussian Liberty and Privileges, provided by the King of Poland, and brutally liquidated during the Partitions of Poland - all of it was not worth discussion in a book supposedly devoted to 'travels through history of Prussia'. This might be a great book for a nostalgic Germans of East Prussian descent, but never to somebody, who would like to learn something about a twisted, complex and controversial history of Prussia. However, the exceptional writing skills and author's ability to capture reader's emotions will make this book very hard to put down.
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Summary: Excellent yet slanted writing
Review: I agree that many of the passages in this book are extremely romantic when it comes to describing Prussian history, but in my opinion the writing itself is great. And although Roy may be slanted in his opinions when discussing Eastern European politics and history, or when describing the Wehrmacht or Teutonic Knights, he tempers this romanticism with tales of Polish Jewry and the atrocities committed against them in East Prussia and its environs. I feel the biggest fault of the author's thinking (not the book), is the strong feeling of class that he demonstrates. It seemed to me that if a person wasn't a member of the Prussian aristocracy or a descendant, then they counted less. Despite these points I thought the book was extremely well written and very interesting. When considering accuracy, though, the reader must read with an open mind and look at where the author is coming from. As for inaccuracies with titles, such as The Great Elector being called "King Of Prussia" instead of "King In Prussia", there is a whole passage devoted to the explanation of both titles, as well as a geneological chart, so I don't know what the last reviewer was referring to. If you are a descendant of people from that part of Europe, (as I am) this book will be a fascinating read. Just read it with an open mind.
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Summary: A Diamond in the Rough
Review: I bought this book on a whim after seeing a review of it in the Sunday Boston Globe. It has been one of the pleasant surprises of the year. Roy discusses a seldom mentioned portion of the well-known German area of European history (and geography). The writing is first rate and was the largest and most pleasing surprise of all, since historical travelogues are typically so blandly handled. Not so here; and this work is ideal for simple, but still thoughtful, pleasure reading. For my money, Roy compares very favorably with Paul Theroux in this genre. Hopefully, we'll see a great deal more of his work in the future.
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Summary: A book needed to start filling in huge gaps
Review: I did not yet read the book ,but are responding to a review from July 26, 2000 made to answer Mr. Schultz's erlier review. This no-name person demonstrates how successful the ongoing propaganda - political correct- re-education campagnes by the victorious powers Stalin (greatest mass murderer in history) and his allies, Great Britain and USA has been so far. It has lead to a complete "Verdummung" by a large section of people. My ancesters the West-Baltic-Aesti-Prussian have been recorded in 98 AD by Tacitus in his "Agricola and Germania", translated by Mattinly .Gothic historian Jordanis recorded Aesti-Prussi in 550 AD in the empire of Theodoric the Great. 1075 AD in the "Gesta Hammaburgensis" Adam von Bremen-Hamburg recorded the Prussi in the same book that America (Markland, Vinland) is first recorded. In a phone book of Germany you will find thousands upon thousands of Prussian family names, such as my own : Jonat,earlier versions Jonatis, Jonatatis etc. You will also find Prussian names scattered througout the world. So unnamed person, read the books available ,such as "The Agricola and the Germania" , "History of the Goths",H. Wolfram and other books I have reviewed .
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Summary: response to review by Mr. Schultz
Review: I have not read this book. I only wish to provide an alternative opinion to that of Mr. Schultz, the first reviewer of this book. German ancestors were responsible for one of the most effective genocides in the history of the world in eliminating the original inhabitants of Prussia. In the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights exterminated a native Baltic population that had PEACEFULLY existed in that land since antiquity (much longer than any German family can claim to have been here). This extermination was justified by the most common, yet most inexcusable, of reasons... The 'original' Prussians followed a different religion than that of the valiant Knights. Obviously, the 'original' Prussians are long gone (like a great number of Christianity's victims). Unlike Mr. Schultz, I believe the most righteous solution would be for the lands of 'old' Prussia to be granted to the few remaining Baltic people. Of course, this is idealistic fantasy. But anything's better than Germans in 'old' Prussia.
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Summary: Return Ostpreussen to Germany
Review: I just finished this book. It's difficult to get much information about this area. I feel that this is the most and best I've been able to obtain about East Prussia. I'd like to know whether any progress has been made to return this area to Germany. Despite the crimes of the Nazis, nothing (but might) justifies what happened to the German population here. Certainly the Russians have made nothing but a mess here. I know that Germans are cautious about this, but I believe that if there is any justice, East Prussia will ultimately be German, as it should be. My only regret is that I probably won't be alive to see it.
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Summary: Finally Someone Presents a Living History!
Review: I just wanted to personally thank James Roy for writing such a totally compelling account of Prussian history, with the inclusion of personal stories of the human tragedies endured as Prussia ceased to exist after 1945. My mother and grandparents were among those expelled by Russia and Poland. Asside from their personal accounts of these events, this is one of the only English publications I've seen which discusses the human drama in the German east at the end of the war (asside from some occasional token mention in a History Channel documentary). Yes, parts of the history are portrayed as "romantic", esp. the Teutonic Knights, the landed aristocracy (Junkers), Frederick the Great et.al. , but so what ---- show me a history that doesn't describe the war mongering Napoleon in a similar light. The book is well tempered with the author's experience traveling through now Polish and Russian Prussia, describing the decay and ignorance of the local population with respect to relevance of historic sights (the use of the Hindenburg family cemetary as a garbage dump, with the former estate a collective farm is a case-in-point --> the locals claimed never to have heard of Hindenburg -----> the leveling of historic Koenigsberg and removal of 800 years of German history from East Prussia - including bulldozing cemetaries - is another). Both proud and disgracful history (witness Stutthof concentration camp) - its all here both inspiring and painful. And someone finally wrote it. Should be required reading in any Modern European history course - and would make a wonderful History Channel documentary.
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Summary: Excellent introduction to Prussian history
Review: I picked up this book because i want it to start reading about Prussian History and i wasnt dissapointed. Mr Roy writes a very simple and easy to follow journal of his travels around Germany while, at the same time, explaining the history behind the places and its importance.Altough i would have added some more historic accounts of the generals of the Prussian army, it's still a very good book to start of your interest in Prussian and German history
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