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.