Description
Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive biography in English of the leader of the Bavarian Revolution and Republic of 1918/19, the first Jewish head of a European state and a man who embraced and embodied modernity. At the end of the First World War, German Jewish journalist, theater critic, and political activist Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), just released from prison, led a nonviolent revolution in Munich that deposed the monarchy and established the Bavarian Republic. Local head of the Independent Socialists, Eisner had been jailed for treason after organizing a munitions workers' strike to force an armistice. For a hundred days, as Germany spiraled into civil war, Eisner fought as head of state to preserve calm while implementing a peaceful transition to democracy and reforging international relations. He rejected another central German government dominated by Prussia in favor of a confederation of autonomous equals, a "United States of Germany." A Francophile, he sought ties with Paris in hope of containing Prussia. In February 1919, on the way to submit his government's resignation to the newly elected constitutionalassembly, Eisner was shot by a protofascist aristocrat, plunging Bavaria into political chaos from which Adolf Hitler would emerge. At the centenary of the Bavarian Revolution and Republic of 1918/19, this is the first comprehensive biography of Eisner written for an English-language audience. Albert Earle Gurganus is Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages at The Citadel. He is the author of The Art of Revolution: Kurt Eisner's Agitprop (Camden House, 1986).
Trade ReviewGurganus provides a detailed biography of the socialist intellectual Eisner, appreciating him not only in his role as minister-president of the Free State of Bavaria, which he himself proclaimed in 1918. The presentation of Eisner's life shows him in chronological fashion as a thinking, feeling, acting person of his time. Gurganus falls back on his research, which he began as far back as the 1970s, and provides a comprehensive evaluation of the archival sources. On hand of especially thorough reference to Eisner's numerous newspaper articles, Gurganus teases out his intellectual development and his political ideas. -- Laura Mokrohs * GERMANISTIK *
It is important that an English-language study of the first Bavarian Minister-President is now available. -- Frank Jacob * FRANCIA-RECENSIO *
[O]ne real strength of this book is that it confers a set of deeper strands to Eisner the public figure-what drove his politics, his journalism, and his relationships with others. . . . [A]n exemplary biography that takes us deep into the mind and context of its enigmatic subject. Gurganus's account is exhaustively researched without being overdetailed, and written with a captivating dramatic verve. . . . [T]he author more than meets his objective to cast his work for 'the broad band of English speakers' with a more general interest in early twentieth-century German history. -- Marcus Colla * GERMAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY *
Compelling. * QUARTERLY REVIEW *
[A]n exhaustive biography of Eisner [that] provides detailed insight into the SPD's party life in late nineteenth-century Germany. . . . [S]hows the breadth of Eisner's erudition. . . . [W]e are offered a beautiful picture of [Eisner's] versatility as an intellectual . . . . -- Wim de Jong * H-SOCIALISMS *
[T]his book is a tour de force. It provides a treasure trove of information on one of the early twentieth-century German left's seminal and all too often forgotten figures. -- Mark Jones * JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY *
Table of ContentsIntroduction A Novel's Suffering Hero: A Youth in Berlin (1867-1889) Aristocratize the Masses: From Berlin to Frankfurt to Marburg (1890-1893) Refuge of All Idealists: Through Cohen to Kant toward Marx (1893-1896) Dictatorial Megalomania: Lèse Majesté and Plötzensee Prison (1896-1898) Making the Leap: Back to Berlin as a Social Democrat (1898-1900) No Idle Dreamer: At the Helm of Vorwärts (1900-1902) My Life's Purpose: Molding the Readership (1902-1903) Never . . . a Less Fruitful Scholastic Debate: Intramural Strife - Evolution vs. Revolution (1903-1905) Revolutionizing Minds: The Scorched Middle Ground (1905) The Complete Parity of My Experiences: From Exile to Nuremberg (1905-1907) The Most Genuine and Fruitful Radicalism: Taking the Lead at the Fränkische Tagespost (1907-1908) So Suspect a Heretic as Surely I Am: New Bearings in North Bavaria (1908) Dear Little Whore: Personal and Professional Turmoil (1909) To Find a Lost Life: From Nuremberg to Munich (1909-1910) Something of a Party Offiziosus in Bavaria: Political Editor at the Münchener Post (1910-1911) At Peace with Myself: Resettling into Family Life (1912-1913) The Powerlessness of Reason: The World War Erupts (1914) Wretched Superfluity: Divided Loyalties (1915-1916) War for War's Sake: Political Alienation and Realignment (1916-1917) The Most Beautiful Days of My Life: Leading the Opposition (1917-1918) Our Power to Act Now Grows: From Prisoner to Premier (1918) The Terror of Truth: Forging the Republic, Combatting Reaction (1918) The Fantasies of a Visionary: Martyr of the Revolution (1918-1919) Now Dead, as It Stands: Outcomes and Legacy (1919-2017) Abbreviations Notes Sources and References Index
