Some of the first figures the Nazis conscripted in their rise to power were rhetoricians devoted to popularizing the German vocabulary of Leben (life). This fascinating study reexamines this movement through one of its most prominent exponents, Ludwig Klages, revealing the philosophical-cultural crises and political volatility of the Weimar era.

Autorentext

Nitzan Lebovic is Associate Professor of History and Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values at Lehigh University, USA. His other publications include Zionism and Melancholia: The Short Life of Israel Zarchi (in Hebrew, 2015), The Politics of Nihilism (co-editor, 2014), Catastrophe: A History and Theory of an Operative Concept (co-editor, 2014), and special issues of Rethinking History (Nihilism), Zmanim (Religion and Power), and The New German Critique (Political Theology).

Inhalt
Introduction: Where It All Began 1. From the Beginning of Life to the End of the World 2. Living Experience, Expression, and Immediacy between 1895 and 1915 3. Ecstasy and Antihistoricism: Klages, Benjamin, Baeumler, 19141926 4. Alternative Subject: Anti-Freudianism and Charakterologie, 19191929 5. Lebensphilosophie: Conservative Revolution and the Cult of Life 6. Lebensphilosophie and Biopolitics: A Discourse of Biological Forms