Description
Book SynopsisThe life of Count Harry Kessler (1868-1937), the famous Anglo-German art patron, writer, and activist, offers a vivid and engrossing perspective on the tumultuous transformation of art and politics that took place in modern Europe between 1890 and 1930. This is his biography.
Trade Review"W.H. Auden called him probably the most cosmopolitan man who ever lived. Aesthete, patron, diplomat, diarist, peace campaigner, defender of the Weimar republic and exile from Nazism, this ultra-sophisticated German count belongs to a type that probably no longer exists: a moneyed and cultivated amateur whose brains and background brought him effortless access to politics, society and intellectual life in any capital where he set foot." - The Economist "By weaving together the story of Kessler's life with that of is time, in a way that evokes the reader's sympathy for his subject without sacrificing critical perspective, he offers a compelling insight into an often dramatic and sometimes terrifying period of history." - Washington Post "Easton deftly fills in the rich cultural context of Kessler's many realms." - New York Times Book Review "From Laird M. Easton's Life of Kessler, told in an exemplary fashion, there is much to learn about what went wrong at such a crucial period of German history. And about the danger inherent in a belief in the improving power of culture." - Times Literary Supplement"
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Art and Politics in Modern Germany I. Family and Education II. Apprenticeship III. The Third Weimar IV. The Fever Curve V. War's Purifying Fire VI. The Red Count VII. The Path Downward Conclusion: A World Forever Lost? Notes Bibliography Index
