Ronald Reng

“Maybe it was just one summer. But one in which we saw ourselves differently.”
(Ronald Reng)

The 2006 Football World Cup took place in Germany, millions of guests from all over the world came – and a special lightness took hold of the country. Public viewing, summer evenings, black, red and gold seas: for a few weeks, anything seemed possible. International surveys declared Germany to be the coolest country in the world; it was suddenly seen as likeable, open and modern. Ronald Reng tells the story of this euphoric state of emergency and doesn’t spare any mention of the gravity of the business: Commercialization, alienation, the power of money. At the same time, he poses the question of whether this new us was sustainable in the long term – or only worked under the special conditions of that summer.

Ronald Reng lived for many years as a reporter in Barcelona and London. His books have been on bestseller lists and have won numerous awards.