A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich“A model of popular intellectual history. . . . In every way, ?A Most Dangerous Book is a most brilliant achievement.”—Washington Post When the Roman historian Tacitus wrote the Germania, a none-too-flattering little book about the ancient Germans, he could not have foreseen that centuries later the Nazis would extol it as “a bible” and vow to resurrect Germany on its grounds. But the Germania inspired—and polarized—readers long before the rise of the Third Reich. In this elegant and captivating history, Christopher B. Krebs, a professor of classics at Harvard University, traces the wide-ranging influence of the Germania, revealing how an ancient text rose to take its place among the most dangerous books in the world. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - gayla.bassham - LibraryThingInformative and well-written, but it felt a bit padded -- I think it might have made a better Kindle Single than a book. Worth reading if you are interested in Germany under Hitler or in intellectual history. Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - JBD1 - LibraryThingAn excellent treatment of the use and abuse of Tacitus' Germania from the time of its composition through the Nazi era. Krebs ably recounts the various ways the text was shaped, adapted, and ... Read full review
Contents
The Roman Conquestof the Germanic Myth | |
The Birth oftheGermanAncestors | |
Formative Years | |
Heroes Songs | |
The Volk of FreeSpirited Northerners | |
White Blood | |
A Bible for National Socialists | |
EPILOGUE Another Reading AnotherBook | |
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Common terms and phrases
Ahnenerbe ancient Germans andthe Annals Annius Annius’s Arminius Aryan Aryan race asthe Aventinus Bebel Berlin Berosus blood book Campano Celtis century chap classical Clüver Codex Aesinas Conrad Celtis contemporary Cornelius Tacitus culture Deutsche deutschen Domitian emperor Enoch fatherland Faulhaber Fichte following quotation French Friedrich fromthe German humanists German nation Germanen Germania Germanic past Germanic tribes Geschichte Gobineau Greek Günther Heinrich Bebel Heinrich Himmler Herder historian history Hitler humanists ideology indigenous inhis inthe Italian Jacob Grimm Johann Justus Möser Klopstock Kohlrausch language later Latin letter Library linguistic manuscript Montesquieu Möser Munich National Socialist Nazi Niccoli Niccolò Niccoli Nordic Nordic race number ofhis ofthe German oftheir onthe Opitz orig original people’s Piccolomini Pliny poetry Poggio political purity quoted race racial readers Reichsführer Roman Empire Rome Rome’s Rudolf Schottelius spirit Tacitean Tacitus’s Tacitus’s Germania text theGerman theGermania tobe tothe Tuisto University Press völkisch movement Wimpfeling withthe words writers
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich |
| Author | Christopher B. Krebs |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company, 2011 |
| ISBN | 0393062961, 9780393062960 |
| Length | 304 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Ancient / General History / Europe / Germany |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |