Publishers WeeklyHarry Kessler (1868–1937) was among the most connected people in the German Empire and indeed in pre-war Europe. A diplomat, writer, philosopher, and patron of the arts with a great breadth of knowledge, Kessler socialized with everyone from Nietzsche to Einstein and the Aga Khan. He kept meticulous diaries spanning over 50 years, documenting Germany at its intellectual, political, and artistic peak, and its descent into the maelstrom of WWI and beyond. This volume comprises half the diaries (believed lost and recently discovered in a lockbox in Mallorca). Easton, Kessler's biographer, has capably translated and culled the voluminous work to give a glimpse into the ferment of aristocratic Europe. That said, Kessler's style is oddly impersonal and often dry.
