Recognized by historians and politicians as a model for European unity,
Switzerland is nonetheless a difficult country to understand as a whole.
Whereas individual Swiss cities have strong identities in the
international political, cultural, and economic arenas, the country
itself seems to be less than the sum of its parts. To capture the
elusive spirit of Switzerland, four eminent writers explore the roots of
its political unity and cultural diversity in a series of urban
portraits. Their observations make for both good storytelling and
insightful social commentary.
Nicolas Bouvier offers a quick-paced history of Geneva--the city John
Calvin had envisioned as a radiating center of godliness, international
in its scope and legal in its methods--the home of the Red Cross and the
League of Nations and, since 1945, the location of numerous disarmament
and diplomatic conferences. Gordon Craig examines Zurich, the city of
the militant religious reformer Huldrych Zwingli, whose centralizing
political zeal was harnessed by subsequent generations of Zurichers to
lead Switzerland in its modernization. Today's economically powerful
Zurich is analyzed in terms of its liberal past as a refuge for
political activists and artists, and in terms of its current
generational divisions on moral and cultural questions. Finally, Lionel
Gossman explores the conciliatory Basel of Erasmus, showing how vigorous
independence, resourcefulness, and remembrance of its humanist
traditions shaped the city's culture and economy. Tying together
important themes in the histories of these cities, Carl Schorske focuses
his introduction on how Switzerland has capitalized on their cultural
differences and refined the art of political negotiation to serve a wide
range of civic interests.
Originally published in 1994.
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