Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas

By Lionel Gossman

Book Overview

This remarkable history tells the story of the independent city-republic of Basel in the nineteenth century, and of four major thinkers who shaped its intellectual history: the historian Jacob Burckhardt, the philologist and anthropologist Johann Jacob Bachofen, the theologian Franz Overbeck, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

"Remarkable and exceptionally readable . . . There is wit, wisdom and an immense erudition on every page."--Jonathan Steinberg, Times Literary Supplement

"Gossman's book, a product of many years of active contemplation, is a tour de force. It is at once an intellectual history, a cultural history of Basel and Europe, and an important contribution to the study of nineteenth-century historiography. Written with a grace and elegance that many aspire to, few seldom achieve, this is model scholarship."--John R. Hinde, American Historical Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226305007
• ISBN13: 9780226305004
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 622 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.1" x 9.1"