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Rejected: Designs for the European Flag by Jonas von Lenthe
3.0
informative reflective medium-paced
Unusual, delightful, gem of a book. I discovered it through reading 'The Arts of the working class' newspaper. It's a book about the rejected designs for the European Union Flag. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in flags (Vexillology), The European Union, history of Art, or looking to improve their English, German, or French. All written text is provided in all three languages throughout the book and contains colourful pictures of the flag designs. I wish more books were published this way. 

I read the book in German first, then in English as part of my foreign language challenge. It was a good choice for many reasons:

  1. There was an easy way to check my understanding as a translation was already provided (I know my German is improving because I spotted elements of translation that I would have interpreted differently, and some words and sentences that flat out didn't make it into the English translation!) 
  2. There was a range of german to test my abilities. The essays both took different tones and used more modern language, while the excerpts from flag design submissions used original language from the 40s and 50s. Beyond the descriptive language of the flags which I could grasp quite easily, there was plenty of new vocabulary and phrasing for me to learn. E.g. from formal letters and political language. 
  3. I found the content interesting. I particularly liked hearing people's rationale behind their flag designs.
  4. Related to point 3, I enjoyed having colourful pictures to look at. I sometimes tried describing the 'unknown' flags myself in German. 

Overall, I found the book the right level to be challenging for my German comprehsion. I found the subject matter interesting, the only downside to me was Marie Rotkopf's essay. At first I thought it was just beyond my level of understanding, until I read the English translation which confirmed my suspicions... Whereas Jonas Von Lenthe's essay is measured and informative as well as critical, Rotkopf's borders on the unsubstantiated polemic. I'm not convinced it complements the rest of the book.