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The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance
This is the definitive study of the history and accomplishments of the Frankfurt School. It offers elegantly written portraits of the major figures in the school's
788 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 23, 2015
Horkheimer doesn't come out of this looking very good at all. He thumps his chest over the ethical and political degradation of the modern world in his writings, while refusing to get involved in political matters or discussions, and rebuking his colleagues who do. This includes screwing the young Habermas out of a job because he was too "left wing". WTF?
The book also details Horkwhiner's control over the institute's finances, and the way he made sure he could maximally exploit the time and energies of others working within the institute by manipulating them into accepting paltry salaries.
A Marxist academic who's main desires seem to be to protect the cash and find a peaceful place to write melancholic philosophy. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a douchebag.
Adorno doesn't look much better either. I get it, Fascism was really really bad. But dude, jazz and sitcoms aren't the end of the world. Now I understand why Hannah Arendt hated him and said he was one of the worst people she'd ever met.
I'm not sure how the neo-Nazis and other conservatives came to the conclusion that these guys were at the head of a vicious Jewish conspiracy to undermine America with so called "Cultural Marxism". This book makes them look completely ineffective as political thinkers and terrified by their own shadows.
Hats off to Wiggerhaus for his honest and thorough scholarship. The book's far more balanced than I've probably made it seem here. It's bit sloppily written (or translated?) at times, which is forgivable, and he had this annoying tendency to smash out long lists of questions which snowball into more and more unanswered questions. I guess he's offering research topics.
It's a great book all the same.
The book also details Horkwhiner's control over the institute's finances, and the way he made sure he could maximally exploit the time and energies of others working within the institute by manipulating them into accepting paltry salaries.
A Marxist academic who's main desires seem to be to protect the cash and find a peaceful place to write melancholic philosophy. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a douchebag.
Adorno doesn't look much better either. I get it, Fascism was really really bad. But dude, jazz and sitcoms aren't the end of the world. Now I understand why Hannah Arendt hated him and said he was one of the worst people she'd ever met.
I'm not sure how the neo-Nazis and other conservatives came to the conclusion that these guys were at the head of a vicious Jewish conspiracy to undermine America with so called "Cultural Marxism". This book makes them look completely ineffective as political thinkers and terrified by their own shadows.
Hats off to Wiggerhaus for his honest and thorough scholarship. The book's far more balanced than I've probably made it seem here. It's bit sloppily written (or translated?) at times, which is forgivable, and he had this annoying tendency to smash out long lists of questions which snowball into more and more unanswered questions. I guess he's offering research topics.
It's a great book all the same.
April 18, 2021
Maybe a bit too concise to offer readers who are not familiar with the "Frankfurter Schule" a deep insight into their history and way of thinking.
February 12, 2018
¡Excelente! Hay una excelente mezcla entre el contenido teórico y el desarrollo histórico de la Escuela Francfort. Lectura imprescindible.
December 8, 2025
Langweilig geschrieben
February 18, 2024
This book is literally everything there is to know about the Frankfurt School and the intellectuals and scholars associated with it. Adorno and Horkheimer is featured most prominently and somewhat central to the book, which is no surprise given that their names are most associated with the Frankfurt School. But the rest of the crew - Marcuse, Lowenthal, Fromm, Neumann, Kirchheimer Habermas et al - are given attention to as well. Some non-Frankfurt School names also were featured prominently in relation to the above names - including the likes of Arendt, Heidigger and Popper.
Beginning from how the Institute of Social Research was set up, its development over the last years of the Weimar Republic, the fleeing of most of them to the US during the period of Nazi rule and the war years, their time spent there and thereafter in the post-war period, Wiggerhaus covers it all. I am fairly certain that he covered all the works - some (presumably the major works) in much more detail than others - that each of these scholars produced, the context behind each work, and their subsequent impact on each other and in their respective fields.
The book also humanises them, their thoughts, feelings, petty rivalries, concerns - some of which are almost prosaic. Like Adorno wanting a raise from Horkheimer, which got a chuckle out of me because these intellectual giants have the same sets of concerns as us ordinary folks - sometimes one may tend to forget that they too are ordinary humans with human concerns. It also showed a side of them that is none too flattering, such as Horkheimer’s exclusion of the likes of Fromm from his circle (which includes Adorno) and why that was the case.
Also, as one reviewer here put, they are often more afraid of the shadows cast by their political writings, which is especially evident during the protests of the late 1960s. And these are the characters that the political right make out to be manipulative evil geniuses and wanting to “destroy western civilisation” through “cultural Marxism” (or whatever that rubbish means).
It is not that easy a read - especially when Wiggerhaus writes about the respective ideas and works of these intellectuals. I find myself struggling at times to make sense of some of what is written, especially when it comes to Adorno’s writings on art and music. Having a background would be useful, and some familiarity with their work coming into this book would be essential.
Though the book took me longer to read than I thought but it was worth the time and effort. I will revisit it again from time to time, especially after reading some of their works.
Wiggerhaus has done an amazing job of putting this piece of work together, and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in this subject.
Beginning from how the Institute of Social Research was set up, its development over the last years of the Weimar Republic, the fleeing of most of them to the US during the period of Nazi rule and the war years, their time spent there and thereafter in the post-war period, Wiggerhaus covers it all. I am fairly certain that he covered all the works - some (presumably the major works) in much more detail than others - that each of these scholars produced, the context behind each work, and their subsequent impact on each other and in their respective fields.
The book also humanises them, their thoughts, feelings, petty rivalries, concerns - some of which are almost prosaic. Like Adorno wanting a raise from Horkheimer, which got a chuckle out of me because these intellectual giants have the same sets of concerns as us ordinary folks - sometimes one may tend to forget that they too are ordinary humans with human concerns. It also showed a side of them that is none too flattering, such as Horkheimer’s exclusion of the likes of Fromm from his circle (which includes Adorno) and why that was the case.
Also, as one reviewer here put, they are often more afraid of the shadows cast by their political writings, which is especially evident during the protests of the late 1960s. And these are the characters that the political right make out to be manipulative evil geniuses and wanting to “destroy western civilisation” through “cultural Marxism” (or whatever that rubbish means).
It is not that easy a read - especially when Wiggerhaus writes about the respective ideas and works of these intellectuals. I find myself struggling at times to make sense of some of what is written, especially when it comes to Adorno’s writings on art and music. Having a background would be useful, and some familiarity with their work coming into this book would be essential.
Though the book took me longer to read than I thought but it was worth the time and effort. I will revisit it again from time to time, especially after reading some of their works.
Wiggerhaus has done an amazing job of putting this piece of work together, and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in this subject.
April 13, 2020
Tough slogging that ends with mixed results for the reader. It's good on the history (rich in detail), weaker on the theories (at least for lay readers because it presumes a lot of familiarity with the concepts and philosophical background), weaker still on political significance (because saying the School deeply influenced radicalism in the 1960s and later is far different than showing the lines of influence and assessing their importance relative to other factors).
The best parts are the direct and sometimes incidental descriptions of social detail. The history of the Frankfurt School is a case study in intellectuals' flight from Nazism. A surprising number of the individuals involved turned to philosophy, criticism and other forms of academics after growing up in fairly affluent merchant families; that's still a common story these days. Horkheimer and Adorno, the central figures, are pictured in a decades-long vortex of obscure theories, secrets, jealousies, suspicions, sabotaging of would-be colleagues, and constant spinning of grand plans that almost invariably fall short or fail completely because of poor execution and general dithering. But the "all too human" aspects of the story add to its interest.
The best parts are the direct and sometimes incidental descriptions of social detail. The history of the Frankfurt School is a case study in intellectuals' flight from Nazism. A surprising number of the individuals involved turned to philosophy, criticism and other forms of academics after growing up in fairly affluent merchant families; that's still a common story these days. Horkheimer and Adorno, the central figures, are pictured in a decades-long vortex of obscure theories, secrets, jealousies, suspicions, sabotaging of would-be colleagues, and constant spinning of grand plans that almost invariably fall short or fail completely because of poor execution and general dithering. But the "all too human" aspects of the story add to its interest.
to-keep-reference
October 18, 2016Comentado en clase de Problemas de Filosofía Contemporánea respecto a One-Dimensional Man.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews