Who was Alban Berg? In her new book, Barbara Meier narratively approaches the life and work of the great composer, painting a broad panorama of cultural life after the turn of the century—a time marked for the artist by war, inflation, and the rise of National Socialism. She describes Berg's encounters with contemporaries, his difficult relationship with Arnold Schönberg, and recounts, through letters, including previously unpublished ones, Alban Berg's perpetually unhappy love affairs. All printed compositions, particularly the two operas Wozzeck and Lulu, are incorporated into this moving narrative of his life and analyzed in depth.