Limits of Reason: The German Democratic Press and the Collapse of Weimar Democracy

by Modris Eksteins

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354 pages, Hardcover

First published June 19, 1975

About the author

A specialist in German history and modern culture, Modris Eksteins attended Upper Canada College on scholarship and then the University of Toronto (Trinity College) from which he graduated with a BA in 1965 while concurrently attaining a Diploma from Heidelberg University in 1963. He then studied at Oxford University (St. Antony's College) as a Rhodes Scholar, earning his BPhil in 1967, and DPhil in 1970. He joined the Division of Humanities at University of Toronto Scarborough in 1970, retiring as professor emeritus of history in 2010.

Reviews

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very difficult to overestimate the importance of the press in German culture in the late 19th and early 20th century, at home, on the continent, and even in America. Whether one thinks that these massive organs of the left, right, and center helped shape the environment, or merely reflected the changing and chaotic world, the power of the newspapers cannot be denied. The combination of intellectual stimulation, titillation (from crime stories and gossip regarding the powerful), as well as the pure aesthetic brilliance that went into some of the advertising of this era probably marks a peaking cultural efflorescence the daily and sometimes twice-daily print world will never see again (especially these days, when everything is online).

What Modris Ekstein does very well in this book is show how classical liberal ideas about free speech and fair play were no much for the violence forces (on the left and right) who had no interest in such a reasonable discourse, which they regarded as serving the bourgeoisie and barring the path to utopia (either of a communist land of all men being equal, or of an Aryan state ruled by the pure of blood). It is sad book, and especially poignant in the third part, wherein the reader bears witness to the unraveling of Germany's great experiment with democracy as well as looking on at the soul-crushing blows dealt to all the earnest and well-meaning figures stumbling through the darkness of the early thirties, trying to figure out what happened to the exciting and intellectually open world that they had inhabited only a few years before.

Where the book stumbles (and dwells far too long) is in its lingering treatment of intra-family feuds and double-crosses between various factions of the center-left and center-right elements vying for their share of the pie, and arguing about who would ultimately rule the various print empires, controlling the content and steering sociopolitical direction of the various papers. It's easy to understand why Modris Ekstein finds this stuff fascinating, since he makes it clear that too many previous investigations into the world of these newspaper magnates soft-pedaled these conflicts, back in the day when attacks by the communists and Nazis meant that those who disagreed on comparatively minor issues had to stifle their bile and present a unified front to the world. That said, the "inside baseball" as the American idiom has it, takes up far too much of the book's core content. There are few subjects as fascinating as the Weimar Republic, and probably no facet (aside from maybe Kabaret-Kunst) quite as colorful as the world of the newspapers printed during this period. Somehow, Ekstein has managed to turn in a dry work on a juicy-by-design subject. Also, forgive me for my philistinism here, but when one considers the beautiful artwork and photos in dailies like the "Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung" or any of the "Anzeiger" periodicals, the fact that there is no photo section or plates in the middle of the book just feels like a slap in the face, at least to this reader.