German Life Pictures

Treitschke, Heinrich von, 1834-1896Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 608K words
Chapters: 61

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Deutsche Lebensbilder by Heinrich von TreitschkeAuthor: Treitschke, Heinrich von, 1834-1896,Language: German, Class: DD: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Germany, Release Date: Oct 3, 2014

Editor's review

Deutsche Lebensbilder (Portraits of German Lives) is a collection of character sketches by the German historian Heinrich von Treitschke, in the original German, classified under German history. Treitschke was a leading figure of the nineteenth-century Prussian school, and his historical writing bears a pronounced nation-state standpoint and the stamp of its time. The book traces historical panoramas through individuals, combining historical narrative with political commentary; it is a primary sample of how nineteenth-century German history was written and what values it served. Read it with a critical eye: appreciate the narrative skill and character portraiture while noting the biases and limitations of the age. For German readers it is also suitable practice in historical German and in building vocabulary of persons and institutions. As a public-domain ebook it is easy to search and read alongside other texts.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of German history who want a sense of the nineteenth-century Prussian school's style
Readers with German reading ability who want practice with historical texts
Scholars and students of nation-state historiography and the standpoint of historical writing
Advanced readers interested in a gallery of German historical figures

Not a good fit for

General readers without German who need a Chinese translation
Beginners seeking a neutral, objective general history
Readers who prefer contemporary historical methods and dislike nationalist historiography

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and pick the figures that interest you rather than reading straight through.
Mark the author's evaluative statements as you read and weigh their bias.
Keep a general history of Germany at hand to fill in the background of each figure's era.
German learners can copy passages of character description for close reading and retelling practice.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book?

The listing shows only a German public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg and gives no information on a Chinese translation. For reading in Chinese, check domestic publishing separately, or read the original if your German allows.

What should I watch for in Treitschke's view of history?

He was a nineteenth-century historian of the Prussian school, and his works carry a strong nation-state standpoint, with evaluations of people and events shaped by the tendencies of his time. Read it as a historical text of a particular era, compare it with later scholarship, and keep your judgment critical.

Is the German suitable for intermediate learners?

This is nineteenth-century academic German, with long sentences and dense historical and political vocabulary, harder than ordinary reading. It suits readers at intermediate level or above who are willing to use a dictionary and background sources; beginners should start with the shorter character chapters.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Treitschke, Heinrich von, 1834-1896 Author

Heinrich von Treitschke (Treitschke, Heinrich von, 1834–1896) was a nineteenth-century German historian and political writer whose works centered on the formation of the German nation-state and on European political change. Four of his works are held here. Die Gründung des Deutschen Zollvereins examines the founding of the German Customs Union and belongs to the history of economic and political institutions. The two volumes of La Francia dal primo impero al 1871 narrate, in Italian, the history of France from the First Empire to 1871, showing that his research extended to French political history. Deutsche Lebensbilder collects biographical assessments of German figures and reflects his practice of conveying historical judgments through portraiture. His prose carries a pronounced national-liberal stance, is clearly organized, and stresses the links among institutions, individuals, and the spirit of the age. Because public information is limited, biographical details and scholarly appraisal are not developed here; readers may grasp his historiographical characteristics from the works mentioned above.