Learning from the Germans

“Fascinating . . . [William Faulkner] observed about the society in whose midst he lived: 'The past is never dead. It’s not even past' . . . The history wars shape far more than how we remember the past. They shape the societies we bequeath to future generations. Susan Neiman’s book is an important and welcome weapon in that battle.”—Deborah E. Lipstadt, The New York Times

“Firmly convinced of the exceptional nature of their country, many Americans resist opportunities to learn from the history of others . . . Neiman, a Jewish American philosopher who grew up in the American South and now lives in Berlin, has written a corrective.”—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

“Comparing German and American attempts to reckon with the past is a worthy exercise . . . [A] very persuasive case for reparations . . . The United States’ debate about its own past is enriched by books like this one, and it could use another ten like it.”—Heather Souvaine Horn, The New Republic

“While Neiman makes it clear that she has a personal stake in truth-telling and historical memory, the great strength in the book is her argument that we all have a stake . . . Profoundly thought-provoking . . . In a stirring final section, Neiman invites us to think more deeply about who suffered the real harms, then and now, and what practical steps we can take to begin working off the past and addressing the unanswered questions of justice.”—Jeremy Rutledge, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)

“Combining big thoughts and startling snapshot particulars, Learning from the Germans is an enthralling moral meditation on mass social sin and its expiation as practiced in post–Third Reich Germany and the post-apartheid American South. Susan Neiman, a citizen-philosopher who has never shied from difficult topics, has mustered her stylish pen, formidable intelligence, and unique experience as a southern Jewish expat in Germany to produce a nuanced work of conscience with urgent relevance today.”—Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution

“Learning from the Germans asks a deep question: As Americans struggle, once again, with the legacy of slavery, what can they learn from the German attempt to come to terms with the Holocaust? Susan Neiman’s eloquent, moving, and searching answer is clear. It is time for Americans to listen and to learn from the anguish and truth-seeking of the German confrontation with evil.”—Michael Ignatieff, author of The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World and president and rector of Central European University

"Susan Neiman’s Learning from the Germans puts discussion of the horror of American anti-black racism into instructive, fascinating, and disturbing dialogue with rumination on the record of Nazism in Germany. This is a moving, deep, important book."—Randall Kennedy, Professor, Harvard Law School

"Susan Neiman has devised a genre that’s encompassing enough to address the problem of evil: investigative philosophy. She tests moral concepts against lived realities, revealing actual human beings wrestling with—or away from—the unforgiving past: Germans who implant memorial plaques in the street, who work to integrate immigrants, and who think Germany was not defeated but liberated in 1945; and in Mississippi, citizens who insist that humanity drives better when it takes the time to gaze into the rearview mirror. This compelling, discerning book is as necessary and provocative as its title."—Todd Gitlin, author of Occupy Nation and Chair of Communications at Columbia University

"The United States has much to learn from twentieth-century German history. As a learned and passionate guide, Susan Neiman draws on her long-term immersion in German history and her knowledge of American (especially Southern) racism to address vital questions: Does Germany's reckoning with Nazism offer lessons for the United States? How should a nation’s history be told to new generations? Should monuments to Confederate leaders be removed? Should there be reparations for slavery and other historical injustices? Packed with stories about individuals and communities dealing with the legacy of racial violence, Learning from the Germans identifies constructive steps for addressing the past and the present to make a different future."—Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University

"[Learning from the Germans] presents an insightful comparative analysis of post-WWII German sentiments about Nazi atrocities alongside southern American attitudes about the Civil War and slavery, suggesting how Americans might better come to terms with their country’s history . . . [Neiman's] commentary is thoughtful and perceptive, her comparison timely. This exceptional piece of historical and political philosophy provides a meaningful way of looking at the Civil War’s legacy."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A pointed demonstration of how Germany offers lessons for attending to polarizing issues of the past and present . . . [Learning from the Germans] serves as an important lesson for those who seek to face up to the past wrongs in this country. A timely, urgent call to revisit the past with an eye to correction and remedy."—Kirkus Reviews

"Richly rewarding, consistently stimulating and beautifully written . . . [Learning from the Germans] provides the crucial facets of any successful attempt to work off a nation’s criminal past . . . This disturbing but hopeful and insightful book wrestles with the questions of who we are as human beings and what values we have as a nation."—Roger Bishop, BookPage (starred review)