Das Land der Bayern

Bavaria - a slightly different story
Bavaria is not - Bavaria is made. This was true in the kingdom after 1806, under the Nazi dictatorship, but also in modern Bavaria with its hegemonic party and its sometimes monarch-like actors. Certain images of Bavaria have been and continue to be created to this day, depending on utilitarian thinking or invoked traditions, ideological, political or touristic concepts. In his fascinating book, historian Bernhard Löffler explores the construction of different spatial concepts and images of Bavaria and thus provides new, unusual approaches to the land of the Bavarians.

There are indeed mountains, meadows, forests and lakes, castles, monasteries and chapels in Bavaria, but this widely dominant image is very selective. Spaces and landscapes often turn out to be more of a projection surface for painters and writers, historians, ethnologists and conservationists, holidaymakers and enthusiasts of hiking and forest clubs. And they are instrumentalised by ideologists, politicians and marketing experts, surveyed, organised and put to use by bureaucrats, cartographers and traffic planners. In this refreshing account, Bernhard Löffler sheds light on the background to "state Bavarian" history, tells of landscapes, regions and Bavarian obstinacy in the world - and how they came about, who shaped them and what effect they had.

"The injustice of the world begins with the distribution of the mountains."

• A new look at Bavaria beyond the clichés

• Regions, identities and the history of Bavaria

• Nature, landscape and environment in the image of modern Bavaria

• Oberammergau and Obersalzberg, Ostmark and Mainfranken - historical regions and strange places.