Michael Geoghegan (1974, Modern Languages) publishes The Ruins of the Reich

The Ruins of the Reich, by Michael Geoghegan (1974, Modern Languages), is a vivid account of past and present German identity.  The exploration unfurls as Geoghegan journeys through the former German Reich, through the 18 territories memorialised in the Hall of Liberation. His travels cover present-day Germany and Austria, and those regions of Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Russia which were once German or which remain German-speaking. His travelogue combines visits to monasteries, castles, Jewish ghettos and the remains of the Iron Curtain with flashbacks to his childhood and adolescence. The documentation of these experiences is underpinned by cultural-historical observations on the theme of German national identity: Geoghegan engages with patriotic monuments of 19th-century Germany, and examines how the works of cultural figures such as Richard Wagner, Lucas Cranach and Bertolt Brecht reflect different approaches to the idea of Germanness.

The Ruins of the Reich is Geoghegan’s first full-length book. It will be published in November by Leitmotif Editions.  To order a copy of The Ruins of the Reich click here.