A virtuoso tour through the cultural history of German ideas and influence, from 1750 to the present. This is a grand, sweeping cultural history in the bestselling tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, with the resonance and historical punch of books like Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioner. It demonstrates with an extraordinary display of erudition and accessibility how, were it not for Hitler and the Nazis, the twentieth century would have been dominated by Germany rather than America. A completely original thesis, stunningly executed.