Nevertheless, I think Watson does credible job. Some, Kant, Hegel, Marx, etc., require serious thought. Explains them carefully and concisely (as possible). He obviously believes the philosophical/religio/political ideas are key.

English now dominates the arts and sciences, but Watson writes an absorbing account of a time not so long ago when German ruled. Watson provides detailed, even exhaustive, explanation of German development. This led to trouble, but until Hitler wrecked everything after 1933, Germans won more Nobel prizes than Britain and America combined. An ominous byproduct, though, was a growing, pugnacious sense of national superiority. Kant, Marx, Hegel, Nietzsche, and others dominated Western intellectual life. The German Genius is a virtuoso cultural history of German ideas and influence, from 1750 to the present day, by acclaimed historian Peter Watson (Making of. The German Genius is a virtuoso cultural history of German ideas and influence, from 1750 to the present day, by acclaimed historian Peter Watson (Making of the Modern Mind, Ideas). See search resultsfor this author Peter Watson(Author) 4. From Bach to Schoenberg, music became overwhelmingly German. The German Genius: Europes Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century Paperback Jby Peter Watson (Author) Visit Amazons Peter Watson page Find all the books, read about the author and more. Modern medicine started as German medicine (bacteriology began with Robert Koch). Science flourished, stimulated by new university-based laboratories.

There followed a cultural renaissance as important as Italy s earlier one. The same era in Germany produced the modern university in which professors are expected to discover, not just teach, knowledge, and students learn to reason, not just memorize and new forms of scholarship. Stirred by the French Revolution, German nationalism exploded.

We are shamefully ignorant of German culture, asserts veteran British historian Watson (The Modern Mind) in this engrossing, vast chronicle of ideas, humanists, scientists, and artists: Bach, Goethe, Hegel, Gauss, and many more. The German Genius is a lengthy compilation of essential German contributions to philosophy, theology, mathematics, natural and social science and the arts since 1750.

The german genius by peter watson