Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography - Tapa dura

«Rupke examines the vicissitudes of Humboldt's reputation with great historical insight and scrupulous intelligence. [...] a marvellously fascinating book.» (Malcolm Nicolson, Annals of Science)
«A magisterial piece of research, clearly written, logically organized and flowing naturally from one epoch to the next.» (James R. Moore, Cambridge and Open University)
«A great and pioneering book, offering a brilliant synthesis of the core appropriation of Alexander von Humboldt in Germany from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present.» (Michael Zeuske, Cologne)
«Putting aside a minor quibble with a technical oddity in a by and large well written text - the Chicago referencing style leads to interruptions of a narrative sentence occasionally running over more than one line - Rupke's work makes for a fascinating, informative and enjoyable read.» (Irmline Veit- Brause, History Australia)

Alexander von Humboldt is one of the most celebrated figures of late-modern science. In Germany, his renown has generated continuous biographical interest from late-Prussian times through the Empire Period, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the divided Germany of 1949 to 1990, to the reunified Germany of today. In this first metabiography of Humboldt, the author leads us through the twists and turns of German political history, stopping to point out the Humboldt identity that was created to match the moment, ultimately showing us not one Humboldt but many. As he makes clear, these diverse Humboldts tell us as much about the biographers as about Humboldt himself. One need only look behind a given Humboldt representation to identify the institutional and socio-political interests that engendered the Humboldt of any one epoch. Provoked by the post-modernist challenge to the practice and writing of history, Nicolaas A. Rupke examines how the partisan and polemical moments of Humboldt biography shed light on issues that command our attention in today's world.