{"product_id":"bismarck-a-life-jonathan-steinberg","title":"Bismarck: A Life, Jonathan Steinberg","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis riveting, New York Times bestselling biography illuminates the life of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman who unified Germany but who also embodied everything brutal and ruthless about Prussian culture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJonathan Steinberg draws heavily on contemporary writings, allowing Bismarck's friends and foes to tell the story. What rises from these pages is a complex giant of a a hypochondriac with the constitution of an ox, a brutal tyrant who could easily shed tears, a convert to an extreme form of evangelical Protestantism who secularized schools and introduced civil divorce. Bismarck may have been in sheer ability the most intelligent man to direct a great state in modern times. His brilliance and insight dazzled his contemporaries. But all agreed there was also something demonic, diabolical, overwhelming, beyond human attributes, in Bismarck's personality. He was a kind of malign genius who, behind the various postures, concealed an ice-cold contempt for his fellow human beings and a drive to control and rule them. As one contemporary \"the Bismarck regime was a constant orgy of scorn and abuse of mankind, collectively and individually.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn this comprehensive and expansive biography--a brilliant study in power--Jonathan Steinberg brings Bismarck to life, revealing the stark contrast between the \"Iron Chancellor's\" unmatched political skills and his profoundly flawed human character.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":61319249035598,"sku":"9780199642427","price":8.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0842\/6546\/8238\/files\/9780199642427.jpg?v=1792664321","url":"https:\/\/littlelanebookshop.com\/products\/bismarck-a-life-jonathan-steinberg","provider":"Little Lane Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}