The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Watson, Peter

4.18

1,347 ratings by Goodreads

9780060760229: The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060760222 ISBN 13: 9780060760229

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010

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Explores the transformation of Germany between 1750 and 1933, when some of Germany's greatest thinkers--artists, writers, philosophers, scientists and engineers--turned their country into a dominant intellectual and cultural force in Europe that helped shape modern America and Britain. 20,000 first printing.

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Review:

"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)

"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

"["The German Genius" is] Watson's eight-hundred-and-fifty-page love letter to the all-stars of the Teutonic intellect...his ?lan generates its own momentum... The book's breadth is part of the point."--The New Yorker

"[A] colossal encyclopaedia. . . . Heroic. . . . Watson derives the German genius from deep springs."--The Guardian

"Reveals several surprises. . . . A remarkable book on many levels. The research is first-rate and it is surprisingly accessible."--Tucson Citizen

"Few wasted words--a welcome resource for students of modern history, literature and cultural studies."--Kirkus Reviews

"Watson's 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)

"A powerful and vivid opus. . . . Watson's story is brimming with life. You can barely put the book aside."--Berliner Zeitung.

"A joy, for its ambition, its seriousness and its moral integrity."--The Scotsman

"Few wasted words-a welcome resource for students of modern history, literature and cultural studies."--Kirkus Reviews

From the Back Cover:

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, J�rgen Habermas, and Joseph Ratzinger ensure that the German genius still resonates intellectually today.

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