Day by day, over the course of a year, Gesine Cresspahl tells her ten-year-old daughter Marie about their family history, from life in Mecklenburg during the Weimar Republic, through the Nazi regime, in the subsequent Soviet occupation zone, and the early years in East Germany. At the same time, the novel depicts the everyday life of mother and daughter in the metropolis of New York during the pivotal year of 1967/1968, amidst the Vietnam War and student protests. In "Anniversaries," Uwe Johnson unfolds a unique panorama of German history in the 20th century - a "reading world tour" into the tumultuous New York present of 1968 and simultaneously into the history of a German family since the Weimar Republic.