Wolfgang Munchau argues that Germany's economic model, long celebrated as a success story, is deeply flawed and heading for crisis. He traces how Germany's export-dependent economy, while generating impressive trade surpluses, has produced insufficient domestic demand, crumbling infrastructure, and technological lag in key sectors. Germany's vaunted automotive industry failed to anticipate the shift to electric vehicles; its digital infrastructure lags behind smaller European nations; its dependence on Russian gas proved catastrophic. Munchau examines how political choices—wage suppression, infrastructure underinvestment, failure to nurture new industries—created these vulnerabilities. He is particularly critical of the assumptions that guided German policy: that exports are always good, that budget surpluses are responsible, that manufacturing prowess translates to technological leadership. The book is polemical, written by an economist who has criticized German orthodoxy for years. For readers interested in European economics, industrial policy, or how successful models can become obstacles to adaptation, Munchau provides a bracing counternarrative.