THE rich history of Germany has been brought to life in an epic new book by a Dorset author.

Stephen R A'Barrow will be signing copies of Death of a Nation - A New History of Germany at Dorchester Waterstones tomorrow (8) and Bridport Waterstones on Saturday.

The book tells a poignant history of Germany from 105 BC to the present, the result of 20 years of research, travel and writing.

Swanage author Stephen has a German mother and spent his early years in the German spa town of Homburg.

"My father was in the forces and he married a German lady.

"There were many conversations going on about Germany on both sides of the family, especially when there were football matches between England and Germany!"

Stephen studied at university in Berlin in the late 80s.

He said: "While I was there the Second World War was quite a taboo subject, but one the Berlin Wall came down there were Poles, Czechs and East Germans and the country changed.

"People wanted to begin again and weren't concerned about who did what to whom."

Stephen is the director and owner of language school Harrow House International College in Swanage.

"I've lived in various countries around the world - Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil but I love Dorset and the South West."

Stephen's last book was on Brazil - released at the time of the World Cup last year.

"I thought there'd be a huge amount of interest in it but there seems to be more interest in this book.

"I think there's a very strong interest in German history in particular at the moment.

"British historians in the last five or ten years in particular have done most of the ground-breaking and have really shone a light on Germany."

*Stephen will be talking about and signing copies of his book in Waterstones Dorchester from 11am tomorrow and will doing the same in Waterstones Bridport on Saturday from 10am.

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