One of the most significant literary essayists in Germany presents a book for crisis-stricken contemporaries that offers a strong consolation: it can always get much worse. Hardly anyone observes the pitfalls of politics and love, progress and downfall as closely and humorously as Günter Kunert. In 1963, when Kunert was still living in East Germany, his first poetry collection was published by Hanser. Half a century later, he must conclude: a new millennium changes nothing at all; on the contrary. Unforeseen possibilities arise to ruin the world even faster, with scientific and economic progress, accompanied by grand words to gloss over the poor state of the world.