Overview

During a pilgrimage to Germany with his father, Fred Kempe promised him he would write about modern Germany. Twelve years later, as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal Europe, Mr. Kempe began a long journey of exploration in an attempt to answer questions that haunted him about his father's land: ""How could such an apparently good people with such a rich cultural history have done such evil things? What causes evil, and what breeds good? After only half a century of re-education and reconstruction, could the strength of German democracy and liberalism be as great as it seemed?"" In this book, Fred Kempe delves into Germany's demographic change, its modern military, its youth, and America's role in the remaking of Germany after the war. He also looks at German pre-war history and how that history plays into shaping the future of the newly in-tact Germany. While searching modern Germany for the answers to his philosophical questions, Kempe finds himself in a parallel search for the roots of his own German heritage. Through seeking out relatives and searching documents that might enlighten him about the unspoken mysteries of his family's past, he discovers more than he bargained for, and at the same time learns a great deal about himself. The journey that began as the fulfilment of a promise to his father, led him as he had hoped, to a greater understanding his father's Heimat. In the last chapter of his book, Kempe calls modern Germany ""America's Stepchild."" He theorises that Germans, because of their past atrocities, feel a great responsibility to their European neighbours as well as to the world. In their process of atonement, they have become a kinder and gentler people, while their strength remains. Their role as a world leader beckons them to heights to which they no longer aspire. Reaching great heights makes the world seem conquerable. This is the mistake they must avoid. Reaching out makes the world more united. This is the direction they know they must go.

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Reviews

A joy to read, in fact, a book so good one doesn't want it to end... Kempe has written a piece of contemporary history as it should be written, in clear, engaging prose, and with judicious and sensible arguments. He has expertly handled the history of modern Germany, and given us insights into the German soul, including his own, that are crucial for an understanding of our modern world. - Kirkus Reviews While Kempe does not sugarcoat Germany's current problems - its dyspeptic tolerance of immigrants, its pervasive bureaucracy and pedantry, the viciousness of the neo-Nazis - he argues that young Germans are right to no longer feel guilt for the Holocaust, as long as they learn its lessons. - Newsday

Author Information

Frederick Kempe is editor and associate publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe and the founding editor of Central European Economic Review. He was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal and covered Germany off and on for more than 20 years. He has also covered such stories as the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the war in Afghanistan, the American invasion of Panama and the collapse of Soviet communism. His published books include: Divorcing the Dictator: America's Bungled Affair with Noriega and Siberian Odyssey: A Voyage into the Russian Soul. He lives in Brussels.

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