Hello, I took a look through the book recommendation tab and didn't find quite what I was looking for so I figured I'd try here. I just recently finished The Sleepwalkers about WWI, and am very interested in getting a better sense about Bismark and how he shaped the politics of Europe in the period prior to WWI. Any recommendations are very appreciated.
Since you are already familiar with Christopher Clark, for the Prussian-led unification process, his Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 is an excellent survey of the process. David Blackbourn's History of Germany, 1780-1918: The Long Nineteenth Century and The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany are both excellent surveys of the larger transitions Germany faced over the course of the nineteenth century.
For Bismarck, Jonathan Steinberg's Bismarck: A Life is a recent critical biography- Steinberg did an interview with the New Books Network here that gives some idea of the book. Katherine Lehrman's Bismarck is a short, concise biography as part of Routeledge's Profiles in Power series. Even though it is ageing and its tendency to lapse into psycho-biography is of its time, A. J. P. Taylor's Bismarck is still an enjoyable read and still has some valuable insights into the great man's personality and diplomacy.