New Books About Switzerland You Might Like

As a writer, The Frau considers reading part of her job. And naturally, she likes to read books about Switzerland since she writes about Switzerland. (If you're interested, read The Frau’s latest piece, Why Switzerland So Often Tops Quality-of-Life Surveys, for the Wall Street Journal.) Below are three new books to consider.

Vision for America by Werner Neff

One of the best ways to understand Switzerland—especially if you’re an American—is to read Neff’s short book, Vision for America. In this book, Neff, a Swiss citizen who now lives in Colorado, USA, compares various Swiss policies on healthcare, taxes, politics, and more with their American counterparts. He praises the friendliness and openness of the American people, who immediately made him feel at home, while also urging the starkly less unfriendly American government to have more compassion for its people—a timely and necessary topic in the U.S. these days.

 

Coming Out Swiss by Anne Herrmann

What does it mean to be Swiss when you’re born in America to Swiss parents and have spent your life in the U.S.? That’s the question Anne Herrmann tries to answer in Coming Out Swiss, her memoir about identity. In the book you’ll also learn facts about cheese, chocolate, and that Adolf Hitler had an account at UBS. The most fascinating quote in the book, at least to The Frau, who is questioning this very thing right now, is on page 51 of the hardcover version: “In America, they say you can’t go home again; in Switzerland, they know that even if you leave, sooner or later you’ll be back.” Hmm.

Fodor’s Switzerland 2015

Ok, The Frau is biased on this one since she contributed to updating the Eastern Switzerland chapter of Fodor’s Switzerland, but researching this book made her fall in love with St. Gallen and especially its Drei Weihern—if you do nothing else this summer, go swim there. On the other hand, researching this guide was definitely not very easy thanks to the Swiss hospitality industry who were in general, very unhelpful and unhappy to assist her with her updates. And this guide is probably best for tourists or people who are fairly new to Switzerland and for not terminal expats, who have probably already been to most of the places in it.

But enough about what The Frau thinks. Any new books you’ve enjoyed lately?