The German Genius By Peter Watson

The German Genius By Peter Watson: Has anyone misplaced a renaissance? Say, a Germanic one, about two centuries old? We all might have, according to cultural historian Peter Watson\'s thick new book The German Genius: Europe\'s Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century. It\'s a big thesis, but the evidence is surprisingly strong. A summary on the book\'s back cover states the case: From the end of the Baroque era and the death of Bach to the rise of Hitler in 1933, Germany was transformed from a poor relation among Western nations into a dominant intellectual and cultural force -- more creative and influential than France, Britain, Italy, Holland, and the United States. In the early decades of the twentieth century, German artists, writers, scholars, philosophers, scientists, and engineers were leading their freshly unified country to new and unimagined heights. By 1933, Germans had won more Nobel Prizes than any other nationals, and more than the British and Americans combined. Yet this remarkable genius was cut down in its prime by Adolf Hitler and his disastrous Third Reich—a brutal legacy that has overshadowed the nation\'s achievements ever since.