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Why The Germans Do It Better

Emerging from a collection of disparate 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, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability.

Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a searching 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 Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain still languishes in wartime nostalgia and 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.

 

Format: Hardcover

Publication Date:  August 27 2020

Publisher: Atlantic

 
 

Why The Germans Do It Better was published in paperback, becoming Waterstones’ non-fiction book of the month.

When it was first launched in hardback in August 2020 it went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller list.

It has received great interest and praise across British, German and international reviewers and media. It was named top of the political books of the year in the Guardian. It was one of the Economist’s books of the year and it was selected by Chris Patten as his favourite book in the New Statesman.

It was chosen by Waterstones as one of its books of 2020 and one of its paperbacks of 2021and was listed in the year’s most popular books by the Sunday Times in December 2021.

The book was published in German by Rowohlt in April 2021 and other translations were issued subsequently.

Here is a selection of reviews and commentary:

The first weekend saw amazing reviews in the Sunday Times, Guardian and The Times. They were followed up by two equally great takes in the Economist and New Statesman on British attitudes to Germany and a wonderful piece in the Literary Review. 

The TLS hated the title but liked just about everything else; Conservativehome took issue with some of the thesis. Most eye-catching was the Telegraph's flag-waving fulmination, which made the case for the book better than I ever could. Since then there have been more great reviews in the Spectator, Financial Times and Prospect.

I have written commentaries on Merkel's relationship to Trump in the Observer and her approach to Putin in the Times, on Germany and Europe in the New European and on German politicians' approach to culture in the Sunday Telegraph.

I also wrote an explainer for Die Welt. Plus I've done a number of print and broadcast interviews. My interview in Der Spiegel caused a stir. Plus Tagesspiegel and Frankfurter Rundschau. The Frankfurter Allegemeine then devoted an entire page to discuss the book.
The German-language launch has been covered, inter alia, by Die Zeit, Stern, Capital, SWR and Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

The launch event in conversation with the BBC’s Katya Adler attracted 200 people from around the world. I’ve since then done events with the Royal United Services Institute, British German Association and many more.  

Among the several podcasts done are those with LBC’s Iain Dale and Matthew Taylor of the RSA