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

弗裏茨•斯特恩（Fritz Stern，1926—2016），齣生於德國的布雷斯勞（弗羅茨瓦夫，現屬波蘭），1938年移居美國。曾任哥倫比亞大學榮譽教授，在康奈爾大學、耶魯大學、柏林自由大學和康斯坦茨大學任教，並於1993—1994年擔任美國駐德國大使理查德·霍爾布魯剋（Richard Holbrooke）的高級顧問。專長為近現代歐洲史、德國史及猶太人史，緻力於理解第三帝國如何興起及其曆史根源。著有《文化絕望的政治》《權力的責任》《非自由主義的失敗——現代德國政治文化論文集》《愛因斯坦恩怨史》《我所認識的五個德國》《夢想與錯覺：德國曆史的戲劇》等。