A birthday gift, this book is a very readable consideration of contemporary German power. Kundnani's main argument is a realist comparison of the power status of today's German with that of the 19th century. Whilst the Germany of today may share the characteristic of ‘semi-hegemony’ in Europe with Bismarckian Germany, the country’s influence must now be understood in terms of geo-economics rather than of geo-politics as the country has rejected militarism. This economic hegemony is still self-interested, however, and Kundnani argues that a selfish Germany is destabalising the Eurozone in its own pursuit of wealth and exports. In the future, this may lead Germany to reject the West entirely.