Synopses & Reviews
Peter Watson's virtuoso sweep through modern German thought and culture, from 1750 to the present day, will challenge and confound both the stereotypes the world has of Germany and those that Germany has of itself.
From the end of the Baroque era and the death of Bach to the rise of Hitler in 1933, Germany was transformed from a poor relation among Western nations into a dominant intellectual and cultural force—more creative and influential than France, Britain, Italy, Holland, and the United States. In the early decades of the twentieth century, German artists, writers, scholars, philosophers, scientists, and engineers were leading their freshly unified country to new and unimagined heights. By 1933, Germans had won more Nobel Prizes than any other nationals, and more than the British and Americans combined. Yet this remarkable genius was cut down in its prime by Adolf Hitler and his disastrous Third Reich—a brutal legacy that has overshadowed the nation's achievements ever since.
How did the Germans transform their country so as to achieve such pre-eminence? In this absorbing cultural and intellectual history, Peter Watson goes back through time to explore the origins of the Germangenius, and he explains how and why it flourished, how it shaped our lives, and, most important, how it continues to influence our world. As he convincingly demonstrates, it was German thinking—from Beethoven and Kant to Diesel and Nietzsche, from Goethe and Wagner to Mendel and Planck, from Hegel and Marx to Freud and Schoenberg—that was paramount in the creation of the modern West. Moreover, despite World War II, figures such as Joseph Beuys, Jürgen Habermas, and Joseph Ratzinger ensure that the German genius still resonates intellectually today.
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“The German Genius present a huge corpus of scholarship in easily digestible form, and its range is astonishing. No professor, least of all a German one, would have dared to essay such a synthesis; so much the worse for the professors.” Standpoint
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“Watsons book is intended to subvert the negative German stereotypes. Though it checks in at just short of 1,000 pages, it is a usefully concise introduction to the principal themes and personalities of German scientific, philosophical, social, literary and artistic culture since 1750.” The Times (London)
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“Assembles such a wealth of information, based on an impressive range of sources, that The German Genius will be an essential work...for years to come.” The Independent
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“Few wasted words-a welcome resource for students of modern history, literature and cultural studies.” Kirkus Reviews
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“Reveals several surprises. . . . A remarkable book on many levels. The research is first-rate and it is surprisingly accessible.” Tucson Citizen
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“A powerful and vivid opus. . . . Watsons story is brimming with life. You can barely put the book aside.” Berliner Zeitung.
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“A joy, for its ambition, its seriousness and its moral integrity.” The Scotsman
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“Watson tells how the Nazis first artistic blacklist appeared just six weeks after Hitler assumed power in 1933 - and how his catastrophic handling of his intellectual inheritance has unfairly overshadowed the country ever since. This exhaustive and virtuoso sweep through history goes some way to restoring the balance.” Press Association
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“[An] engrossing, vast chronicle. . . . English now dominates the arts and sciences, but Watson writes an absorbing account of a time not so long ago when German ruled.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“He has an enviable gift of explaining lucidly and cogently ideas that are complicated or profound (or both). . . . Everyone interested in the sufferings and greatness of modern culture will be informed, entertained and provoked by it.” Literary Review
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“Watsons story is vibrating with life. It is unputdownable. It contains a lot one didnt know. So much enlightenment and so much that moves.” Frankfurter Rundschau
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“[A] colossal encyclopaedia. . . . Heroic. . . . Watson derives the German genius from deep springs.” The Guardian
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“A tour de force. . . . It is impossible not to be impressed by his range and versatility as he bounds across the disciplines. . . . This intelligent book presents a breathtaking panorama.” Sunday Times (London)
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“A compilation of essential German contributions to philosophy, theology, mathematics, natural and social science and the arts since 1750. Watson enshrines a vast pantheon of creative thinkers... [including] compressed summaries of some exceedingly difficult ideas. The range of subjects is impressive, from painters to physicists.” New York Times Book Review
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“[The German Genius is] Watsons eight-hundred-and-fifty-page love letter to the all-stars of the Teutonic intellect…his élan generates its own momentum… The books breadth is part of the point.” The New Yorker
Synopsis
Between 1750 and 1933, Germany, formerly considered the backwards neighbor of more "enlightened" countries like England or France, came into its own as an intellectual powerhouse. Goethe, Mozart, Mendel, Schopenhauer and Einstein are just a few of the many German scientists, philosophers and artists who came to dominate their respective fields. Following the devastating effects of the Third Reich and World War II, German thinkers have once again begun to make significant contributions to the world of ideas.
The German Genius follows the development of German intellectualism and its tremendous influence on the Western world. From the arts and humanities to science and philosophy, acclaimed historian Peter Watson presents a lively and accessible review of more than 250 years of German intellectual history.
Peter Watson was educated at the universities of Durham, London, and Rome. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Times, the New York Times, the Observer, and the Spectator, and is the author of War on the Mind, Wisdom and Strength, The Caravaggio Conspiracy, and other books. He lives in London.
"Watson enshrines a vast pantheon of creative thinkers ... including] compressed summaries of some exceedingly difficult ideas. The range of subjects is impressive, from painters to physicists." -- New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
The German Genius is a virtuoso cultural history of German ideas and influence, from 1750 to the present day, by acclaimed historian Peter Watson (Making of the Modern Mind, Ideas). From Bach, Goethe, and Schopenhauer to Nietzsche, Freud, and Einstein, from the arts and humanities to science and philosophy, The German Genius is a lively and accessible review of over 250 years of German intellectual history. In the process, it explains the devastating effects of World War II, which transformed a vibrant and brilliantly artistic culture into a vehicle of warfare and destruction, and it shows how the German culture advanced in the wars aftermath.
About the Author
Peter Watson has been a senioreditor at the London Sunday Times, a New York correspondentof the London Times, a columnist for theLondon Observer, and a contributor to the New YorkTimes. He has published three exposés on the world ofart and antiquities, and is the author of several booksof cultural and intellectual history. From 1997 to 2007he was a research associate at the McDonald Institutefor Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge.He lives in London.