Germany? Germany!: Satirical Writings: The Kurt Tucholsky Reader

Kurt Tucholsky is one of Weimar Germany's most celebrated literary figures, loved by his many readers and hated by the Nazis. The poet, journalist, and satirist who was at the center of the tumultuous political and cultural world of 1920s Berlin still emerges as an astonishingly contemporary figure. But he was more than just an angry truth-teller; he was also one of the funniest satirical writers of his era, depicting everyday lives during the rise of modernity.The iconic translation of Harry Zohn, a literary figure from Vienna himself, presented Tucholsky to an American audience for the first time. Long out of print, Zohn's book is now being republished in a new edition.

Kurt Tucholsky made his name as one of the Weimar era's most acid, incisive satirists; but to read this panoramic selection of essays, monologues, dialogues and aphorisms is to be reminded that he was also a brilliant literary shape-shifter, able to take on the persona of an embryo, a squirrel, a suite of pulp novels, or a prophet of post-apocalyptic hope with equal felicity. "In Europe, a man is a citizen once and an alien twenty-two times. A wise man is an alien twenty-three times," he wrote. His words sound alarmingly poignant today.

-- George Prochnik, author of "Stranger in a Strange Land: Searching for Gershom Scholem and Jerusalem"

Tucholsky's wit and his courage, his extraordinary sensitivity to language, and the timeliness of his writing have not waned a bit, even eight decades later.

-- Noah Isenberg, Professor of Culture and Media at The New School for Liberal Arts, New York City

Imagine a writer with the acid voice of Christopher Hitchens and the satirical whimsy of Jon Stewart, combined with the iconoclasm of Bill Maher. That's Tucholsky in a nutshell.

-- Anne Nelson, author of "The Red Orchestra" and "The Guys"

In Weimar Germany, Tucholsky was big, the most brilliant, prolific and witty cultural journalist of his time. He poured scorn on the reactionary institutions of the old regime, the follies of the Weimar Republic, and the peculiarities of the German character.

-- William Grimes, The New York Times

Tucholsky's writing is similar to that of Heinrich Heine, his role model, in that it appears superficially simple but is replete with hidden meanings. His works are touching, stirring, and precisely to the point.

-- Peter Appelbaum MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Pennsylvania State University

"Kurt Tucholsky was one of the most brilliant German Jewish writers and satirists of his time. The world has yet to discover his genius."

--Peter Schneider, author of The Wall Jumper and Eduard's Homecoming