Awards

• Short-listed for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011
• Winner of PROSE (Biography/Autobiography) 2011

Overview

This riveting, New York Times bestselling biography illuminates the life of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman who unified Germany but who also embodied everything brutal and ruthless about Prussian culture. Jonathan Steinberg draws heavily on contemporary writings, allowing Bismarck's friends and foes to tell the story. What rises from these pages is a complex giant of a man: a hypochondriac with the constitution of an ox, a brutal tyrant who could easily shed tears, a convert to an extreme form of evangelical Protestantism who secularized schools and introduced civil divorce. Bismarck may have been in sheer ability the most intelligent man to direct a great state in modern times. His brilliance and insight dazzled his contemporaries. But all agreed there was also something demonic, diabolical, overwhelming, beyond human attributes, in Bismarck's personality. He was a kind of malign genius who, behind the various postures, concealed an ice-cold contempt for his fellow human beings and a drive to control and rule them. As one contemporary noted: ""the Bismarck regime was a constant orgy of scorn and abuse of mankind, collectively and individually."" In this comprehensive and expansive biography--a brilliant study in power--Jonathan Steinberg brings Bismarck to life, revealing the stark contrast between the ""Iron Chancellor's"" unmatched political skills and his profoundly flawed human character.

Full Product Details

9780199782529

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Reviews

<br>.. .Bismarck: A Life is the best study of its subject in the English language. -- Henry A. Kissinger, New York Times Book Review<br><p><br> Fascinating biography...Mr. Steinberg breathes more life into Bismarck than any other biographer, thanks to an unusual scholarly method: He shifts the normal balance between analysis and evidence decisively in favor of the latter...The result is riveting, and we experience Bismarck as a hulking, breathing presence. --The Wall Street Journal<br><p><br>The Wall Street Journal Book of the Year selection ( [T]he best biography of the Iron Chancellor to date. --Simon Sebag Montefiore) <br><p><br> A first-rate biography that combines a standard historical narrative with an intriguing account of Bismarck as a personality...Bismarck offers a fresh and compelling portrait of a fascinating character. -- ForeignAffairs.com<p><br> Bismarck: A Life is a readable, engrossing...biography about the father of the Fatherland, a man who made Germany and rem

<br>.. .Bismarck: A Life is the best study of its subject in the English language. -- Henry A. Kissinger, New York Times Book Review<br><p><br> Fascinating biography...Mr. Steinberg breathes more life into Bismarck than any other biographer, thanks to an unusual scholarly method: He shifts the normal balance between analysis and evidence decisively in favor of the latter...The result is riveting, and we experience Bismarck as a hulking, breathing presence. --The Wall Street Journal<br><p><br> This is the best one-volume life of Bismarck in English, much superior to older works. It brings us close to this galvanic, contradictory and ultimately self-destructive figure...Steinberg has an eye for details...and a talent for reconstructing the political drama of the period. -- TheGuardian<p><br> If scholars and history buffs want to meet Bismarck in flesh and blood, they need go no further. Steinberg's integration of psychological insights and Bismarck's political strategies yields a worth

Author Information

Jonathan Steinberg is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Modern European History at the University of Pennsylvania, and Emeritus Fellow, Trinity Hall, Cambridge. His books include Yesterday's Deterrent: Tirpitz and the Birth of the German Battle Fleet and All or Nothing: The Axis and the Holocaust 1941 - 1943.

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