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

Peter Watson

Jun 2010 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

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 war’s aftermath.

Ratings and reviews

Dr. Jukka Kemppinen: This book is almost as good as "Modern Mind". The idea that many of the reviewers seem to have missed is coupling science with liberal arts. The secondary plot is the narrative of the mindset of middle-class. In Germany the changes have been extreme. This kind of information and insight is almost impossible to gather from literature or the Internet. I have studied the topic in depth in German, English and French and vouch that there is no competition for this kind of book - possibly Egon Friedell (1930ies). I give four stars instead of five therefore that Watson could have easily considered the two-way contacts of Germany with the Baltic states (19th century) and Sweden (20th century). Being myself a Finn I am accustomed with the fact that we are not mentioned, although most of our academic training came from Germany, especially in medicine, law, engineering and theology. The generation of my teachers regularly spent some years in Heidelberg, Göttingen or Berlin.

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.