Nationalism Versus Cosmopolitanism in German Thought and Culture, 1789-1914: Essays on the Emergence of Europe

This collection of essays by scholars of international repute explores a particular polarity within 19th-century German thought: that of nationhood and European identity. In the conception of this book, there were two fundamental factors: the recognition that perceptions of German nationhood have been a crucial factor with European consciousness since long before the existence of Germany as a unified State, and an acknowledgement that bitter memories of the two World Wars of the 20th century have sometimes obscured the record of Germany's vast contribution to European cultural and intellectual history.