Jonathan Steinberg is the Walter H. Annenberg
Professor of Modern European History at the University of
Pennsylvania, and Emeritus Fellow, Trinity Hall, Cambridge. His
books include Yesterday's Deterrent: Tirpitz and the Birth of the
German Battle Fleet and All or Nothing: The Axis and the Holocaust
1941 - 1943.
..".Bismarck: A Life is the best study of its subject in the
English language." -- Henry A. Kissinger, New York Times Book
Review
"Fascinating biography...Mr. Steinberg breathes more life into
Bismarck than any other biographer, thanks to an unusual scholarly
method: He shifts the normal balance between analysis and evidence
decisively in favor of the latter...The result is riveting, and we
experience Bismarck as a hulking, breathing presence." --The Wall
Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal "Book of the Year" selection ("[T]he best
biography of the Iron Chancellor to date." --Simon Sebag
Montefiore)
"A first-rate biography that combines a standard historical
narrative with an intriguing account of Bismarck as a
personality...Bismarck offers a fresh and compelling portrait of a
fascinating character." -- ForeignAffairs.com
"Bismarck: A Life is a readable, engrossing...biography about the
father of the Fatherland, a man who made Germany and remade Europe
without a mandate, a crown or an army." -- Dallas Morning News
"This is the best one-volume life of Bismarck in English, much
superior to older works. It brings us close to this galvanic,
contradictory and ultimately self-destructive figure...Steinberg
has an eye for details...and a talent for reconstructing the
political drama of the period."-- The Guardian
"Steinberg...brings a fresh perspective to the subject in a single
volume whose insights and presentation make it no less canonical
than its predecessors." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Jonathan Steinberg's magnificent biography brings out the
monstrous egotism of Bismarck more clearly than anyone before
him...Steinberg has brilliantly transformed this man of 'blood and
irony' into a tragic figure worthy to be compared with Goethe's
Faust." -- New Criterion
"The Bismarck story is an oft-told one, and oft-told with a
political or social agenda guiding the biographer's pen. Otto
Pflanze's magisterial 1990 three-volume work set a new standard for
Bismarck biographies and, more recently, Edgar Feuchtwanger's
'Imperial Germany 1850-1918' moved us beyond the standard Bismarck
mythology. Jonathan Steinberg's 'Bismarck: A Life' fits neatly into
this estimable body of work as a serious, politically detached,
study...Steinberg's analysis achieves a degree of personal and
political objectivity while avoiding an oversimplification of his
political and governmental achievements...his purpose is neither to
praise nor vilify the statesman. Rather, he aims to understand and
explain Bismarck's profound success story: his brilliant strategies
and tactics in bringing together the German states into a unified
polity. In this, 'Bismarck: A Life' is a success story itself." --
Forward
"Portrays a fascinating picture of Germany, as well as its culture
and politics...Jonathan Steinberg's biography is timely and
necessary...Steinberg has written a compelling, readable and
important book." -- Jerusalem Post
"If scholars and history buffs want to meet Bismarck in flesh and
blood, they need go no further. Steinberg's integration of
psychological insights and Bismarck's political strategies yields a
worthy biography." -- Booklist
"Those with a serious interest in the subject will find it an
intriguing one-volume addition to existing long works on Bismarck."
-- Library Journal
"The best biography of the Iron Chancellor to date." -- Simon Sebag
Montefiore, Wall Street Journal
"Other Bismarck biographies have been written, but what is unique
about steinberg's is his effort to give voice to Bismarck's
contemories - how they percieved and experienced him."-- Christian
Century
"The book will probably become the standard work in English for
some time to come. Essential." -- Choice
"This book offers much to praise. An eminent historian has written
a biography of Otto von Bismarck for a popular audience. The prose
is engaging, the account gripping." --German Studies Review
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