This essential short history of Germany -- a whirlwind survey in less than 300 pages -- explores the relationships between social, political and cultural factors in this land located in the center of Europe. It covers the Middle Ages, Reformation and Counter Reformation, the Thirty-Years War, the Peace of Westphalia, the rise of Prussia, the unification of Germany under Bismarck, imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic and its collapse, Hitler and the Holocaust, divided and reunited Germany.  (GER13, $25.99)