Reviews

"Kohut's study is the best psychological analysis of the Kaiser to date."--American Historical Review
"Kohut argues his thesis with insight, sophistication and a wealth of detail culled from a wide reading of primary sources. This is psycho-biography at its best....An intelligent and perceptive study, and one which no student of the period can afford to ignore."--Times Literary Supplement
"Well reasoned, well researched, and very readable. It can be recommended to the general reader, though a modicum of background knowledge of the period would be helpful."--The Historian
"An impressive example of what a historian can do in investigating the mixture of unconscious pressures, private motives, and public postures that affect political decisions."--Peter Gay, Yale University
"Much more than a biography--a study in German national fantasy, ssymbolism, and policy. It is a tribute to Kohut that he has developed a eprspective which has added new dimensions to the discussion of Wilhelmian Germany....An important book."--Peter Loewenberg, University of California, Los Angleles
"Do leaders determine the course of history, or are historical factors responsible for bringing leaders into prominence? Now historian Thomas Kohut addresses this problem in a book about Kaiser Wilhelm II....Drawing on his father's self psychology, Thomas Kohut characterizes Wilhelm II as a narcissistic personality, fragmented, insecure, doubtridden, arrogant, and grandiose, on whom Germany, a nation only recently united, projected its craving for international
recognition and military power."--American Journal of Psychiatry
"It is the best recent book on [Wilhelm II]."--History: Reviews of New Books
"Kohut begins his important book by showing how narcissism, if not properly channelled in childhood by a supportive parental environment, can result in psychological imbalance."--Central European History
"Kohut's work is a provocative and solid addition to the complex jigsaw puzzle of Wilhelm II. It is clearly written...and the notes are rich and full of suggestions, debates, and ideas."--German Studies Review
"Not a biography, nor a study of policy, both of which, as Kohut points out, are readily available elsewhere, it is a study in personality."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History