Synopses & Reviews
Alexander von Humboldt (1769and#8211;1859) is one of the most celebrated figures of late-modern science, famous for his work in physical geography, botanical geography, and climatology, and his role as one of the first great popularizers of the sciences. His momentous accomplishments have intrigued German biographers from the Prussian era to the fall of the Berlin wall, all of whom configured and reconfigured Humboldtand#8217;s life according to the sensibilities of the day.
This volume, the first metabiography of the great scientist, traces Humboldtand#8217;s biographical identities through Germanyand#8217;s collective past to shed light on the historical instability of our scientific heroes.
and#160;
and#8220;Rupkeand#8217;s study . . . will doubtless become a standard reference for the Humboldt industry and for writers of scientific metabiographies to come.and#8221;and#8212;Isis
and#160;
and#8220;Engaging. . . . Rupkeand#8217;s meticulous analysis is fascinating on many scores.and#8221;and#8212;Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
and#160;
and#8220;A study borne of considerable scholarship and one with important methodological implications for historians of geography.and#8221;and#8212;Charles W. J. Withers, Progress in Human Geographyand#160;and#160;
Review
and#8220;Rupke is right to draw attention to the fact that shifting biographical traditions make one person have many lives, and his metabiography helps us to appreciate the historical instability of any scientific life, not just one as complex as Humboldtand#8217;s. . . . Rupke has given us a Humboldt just right for our own less certain and more self-conscious timesand#8212;fractured, multiple and unstable.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The book examines how Humboldt has been portrayed in the biographical literature by his fellow Germans. . . . With each major shift in politics, a new image of Humboldt was created. . . . A marvelously fascinating book.and#8221;
Review
“Engaging. . . . Rupkes meticulous analysis is fascinating on many scores.”
Isis
Review
"Engaging. . . . Rupke's meticulous analysis is fascinating on many scores."-Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
Review
“A study borne of considerable scholarship and one with important methodological implications for historians of geography.”
John Meurig Thomas - Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
Review
and#8220;A detailed, rewarding, and well-illustrated account.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Rupkeand#8217;s study . . . will doubtless become a standard reference for the Humboldt industry and for writers of scientific metabiographies to come.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Engaging. . . . Rupkeand#8217;s meticulous analysis is fascinating on many scores.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A study borne of considerable scholarship and one with important methodological implications for historians of geography.and#8221;
Synopsis
Alexander von Humboldt is one of the most celebrated figures of late-modern science. In Germany, his renown has generated continuous biographical interest from late-Prussian times through the Empire Period, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the divided Germany of 1949 to 1990, to the reunified Germany of today. In this first metabiography of Humboldt, the author leads us through the twists and turns of German political history, stopping to point out the Humboldt identity that was created to match the moment, ultimately showing us not one Humboldt but many. As he makes clear, these diverse Humbolds tell us as much about the biographers as about Humbolt himself. One need only look behind a given Humboldt representation to identify the institutional and socio-political interests that engendered the Humboldt of any one epoch. Provoked by the post-modernist challenge to the practice and writing of history, Nicolaas A. Rupke examines how the partisan and polemical moments of Humboldt biography shed light on issues that command our attention in today's world.
About the Author
Nicolaas A. Rupke is professor of the history of science and director of the Institute for the History of Science at Gand#246;ttingen, Germany. He is the author of several books, including Richard Owen: Victorian Naturalist.and#160;and#160;and#160;
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Prefaces
Chronology of Alexander von Humboldt's Life
Introduction: The Several Lives of Alexander von Humboldt
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Humboldt Phenomenon
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Appropriating Humboldt
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Fashioning Himself
Chapter 1: Liberal Democrat before the Empire Period
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; National Hero of the "Forty-Eighters"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Long Shadow of Bismarck
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Kosmos and Volksbilding
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Literary Face of German Science
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Subversive Democrat at the Prussian Court
Chapter 2: The Wilhelmian and Weimar Kultur Chauvinist
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Identity Changes
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Kultur Nationalist
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Special Envoy to Latin America
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter 3: The Aryan Supremacist of National Socialism
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Nazification
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Kosmos and German Idealism
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Certification of Aryan Purity
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Friend of Faupel
Chapter 4: East Germany's Antislavery Marxist
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Academy's Socialist
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The GDR as Humboldt's Rightful Heir
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Denazificationand#160; and#8212; East
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Nearly a Miner
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Between Forster and Marx
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Great Abolitionist
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "Our Man in Havana"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter 5: West Germany's Cosmopolitan Friend of the Jews
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Westernization
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Fraternity Member
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Denazification and#8212; West
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Cosmopolitan Liberal
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Friend of the Jews
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; "... Almost an American"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Chapter 6: Today's Pioneer of Globalization
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Free Market Victorious
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Globalization "Wessie"
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; A Green Humboldt
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Anglification
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Postmodernist Cracks
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Outing Humboldt
Conclusion: Humboldt Forever
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Humboldt and Germany
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Institutional Embeddedness
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Political Regimes and Biographical Truths
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Metabiographical Reflections
List of Institutions and Political Parties
A Note on Citation
Printed Sources
Indexand#160;and#160;and#160;