Winner of the Lionel Trilling Award

Nominated for the National Book Award

“A major contribution to our understanding of some of the great themes of modern European history—the relations between Jews and Germans, between economics and politics, between banking and diplomacy.” —James Joll, The New York Times Book Review

“I cannot praise this book too highly. It is a work of original scholarship, both exact and profound. It restores a buried chapter of history and penetrates, with insight and understanding, one of the most disturbing historical problems of modern times.” —Hugh J. Trevor-Roper, London Sunday Times

“[An] extraordinary book, an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century.” —Stanley Hoffman, Washington Post Book World

“One of the most important historical works of the past few decades.” —Golo Mann

“In many ways this book resembles the great nineteenth-century novels.” — The Economist

弗里茨•斯特恩（Fritz Stern，1926—2016），出生于德国的布雷斯劳（弗罗茨瓦夫，现属波兰），1938年移居美国。曾任哥伦比亚大学荣誉教授，在康奈尔大学、耶鲁大学、柏林自由大学和康斯坦茨大学任教，并于1993—1994年担任美国驻德国大使理查德·霍尔布鲁克（Richard Holbrooke）的高级顾问。专长为近现代欧洲史、德国史及犹太人史，致力于理解第三帝国如何兴起及其历史根源。着有《文化绝望的政治》《权力的责任》《非自由主义的失败——现代德国政治文化论文集》《爱因斯坦恩怨史》《我所认识的五个德国》《梦想与错觉：德国历史的戏剧》等。