A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich

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Overview

The pope wanted it, Montesquieu used it, and the Nazis pilfered an Italian noble's villa to get it: the Germania, by the Roman historian Tacitus, took on a life of its own as both an object and an ideology. When Tacitus wrote a not-very-flattering little book about the ancient Germans in 98 CE, at the height of the Roman Empire, he could not have foreseen that the Nazis would extol it as "a bible," nor that Heinrich Himmler, the engineer of the Holocaust, would vow to resurrect Germany on its grounds. But the ...
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A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich

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Overview

The pope wanted it, Montesquieu used it, and the Nazis pilfered an Italian noble's villa to get it: the Germania, by the Roman historian Tacitus, took on a life of its own as both an object and an ideology. When Tacitus wrote a not-very-flattering little book about the ancient Germans in 98 CE, at the height of the Roman Empire, he could not have foreseen that the Nazis would extol it as "a bible," nor that Heinrich Himmler, the engineer of the Holocaust, would vow to resurrect Germany on its grounds. But the Germania inspired—and polarized—readers long before the rise of the Third Reich. In this elegant and captivating history, Christopher B. Krebs, a professor of classics at Harvard University, traces the wide-ranging influence of the Germania over a five-hundred-year span, showing us how an ancient text rose to take its place among the most dangerous books in the world.
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Harvard classics professor Krebs writes a scholarly but lucid account of the abuse of history. Written in 98 C.E. by the Roman official Tacitus, About the Origin and Mores of the Germanic Peoples was lost for centuries but resurfaced around 1500 as Germans were growing resentful of foreign domination—in this case from the Catholic Church in Rome. The rediscovered book launched a primitivist myth that captivated admirers over the next 500 years, from Martin Luther to Heinrich Himmler, who loved its portrayal of ancient Germans as freedom-loving warriors, uncultured but honorable, in contrast to decadent Romans. In fact, Tacitus probably never visited Germany, Krebs notes. Rather, using books and travelers' reports, he wrote for a Roman audience who shared his romantic view of northern barbarians. Enthusiastic German readers, culminating in the Nazis, ignored Tacitus's disparaging comments, misread passages to confirm their prejudices, and proclaimed that the ancient historian confirmed their national superiority. This is an inventive analysis of, and warning against, an irresistible human yearning to find written proof of one's ideology. Illus. (May)
Library Journal
In 98 C.E., Roman senator Cornelius Tacitus (56–117 C.E.) wrote the short Germania purporting to describe the fierce tribes beyond the Rhine who resisted Roman conquest. Nobody knows where Tacitus got his information or if he ever visited German territory. In the turmoil following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the book disappeared until 15th-century humanists turned up a single surviving manuscript in a monastery in what is now central Germany. From the moment of the book's discovery, it became the founding document of a hoped-for German nation. Krebs (classics, Harvard; contributor, The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus) shows an impressive mastery of five centuries of theories about Germanness that used and misused Tacitus's account of a brave and unlettered fighting people. This book's title suggests the world might have been better off if Germania had never turned up, but the text reveals that Krebs himself doesn't feel Tacitus's book is "dangerous" or the urtext of Nazi ideology or even an ethnography, but a stereotypical Roman view of the outsider. VERDICT Whoever pimped out this worthy academic monograph about the creation of a German past as if it were The Raiders of the Lost Ark did Krebs no favors. Recommended for serious readers on the merits of its scholarly contents.—Stewart Desmond, New York
Cullen Murphy
…fascinating…Krebs…lays out the recovery of Germania, in 1455, like a detective story…he has a light touch and a dry sense of humor. And despite the title of his book, he does not hold Germania responsible for acts committed in its name. "Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book," he concludes. "His readers made it so."
—The New York Times
New York Times
“Fascinating. . . . [Krebs] has a light touch and a dry sense of humor.”
Slate
“Clever, learned. . . . [Krebs] synthesizes a great deal of classical scholarship and intellectual history into a concise, accessible story.”
Wall Street Journal
“It is an extraordinary tale, and Mr. Krebs . . . tells it with great verve and charm.”
London Review of Books
“A dramatic detective story.”
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780393062656
  • Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
  • Publication date: 5/2/2011
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 964,563
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.40 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Christopher B. Krebs is a classics professor at Harvard University whose academic publications include extensive work on the ancient historians and a recent contribution to The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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Table of Contents

Illustrations 9

Acknowledgments 11

Introduction The Portentous Past 15

1 The Roman Conquest of the Germanic Myth 29

2 Survival and Rescue 56

3 The Birth of the German Ancestors 81

4 Formative Years 105

5 Heroes' Songs 129

6 The Volk of Free-Spirited Northerners 153

7 White Blood 182

8 A Bible for National Socialists 214

Epilogue Another Reading, Another Book 245

Notes 251

Index 287

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 4, 2012

    From Tacitus to the Third Riech

    As an avid history fan, this book delivers a wonderful adventure of "history" through history. Definatly recommended for any history fan.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 9, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

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