The United States is often understood as a project, an experiment, and an idea all at once. The tension between aspiration and reality gives rise to contradictions and dynamics that continue to shape the American nation.
An adequate formula for what the United States represents is not, then: a state; or: a nation; but rather: an idea as the perpetually self-renewing unity of its unreconciled contradictions.
Over the centuries, books have shaped people’s understanding and perception of the United States around the world. We present a selection of ten works from the past 250 years that have left traces in Germany.
We’ve put together a selection of reading, streaming, and event picks that have moved and inspired us here in the editorial team — or that we’re eagerly anticipating. Enjoy discovering them!
America, you are better off
Than our continent, the old one.
You don’t have crumbled castles
And no basalts.
You are not bothered inside
At moving time
By unnecessary memories
And useless quarrels.
Use the present with luck,
And when your children start to rhyme,
A good fate may prevent them from making
Knight‑, robber‑ and ghost stories.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1827, translated by Elizabeth Moller
Honor the anniversary in the classroom at the A1–A2 level with interactive materials on “250 Years of U.S. Independence”: The Goethe-Institut’s Deutschstunde portal offers materials that cover key stages of U.S. history, from the colonial era to the founding of the nation, and provide learners with an accessible introduction to the origins of the United States. Download all materials free for use in German language teaching.
