The writer Sainte-Beuve called her the "Empress of the Spirit," and Madame de Chastenay noted in her memoirs that three great powers fought against Napoleon: "England, Russia, and Madame de Staël." This woman forged her own path. Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) led a tumultuous life during a historically eventful time. Her life story places her in the midst of the upheavals of the French Revolution, and in 1802, she was exiled from Paris by Napoleon. During these years, she traveled to Germany twice, meeting Wieland, Schiller, and Goethe. With her book "On Germany," she established the myth of Germany as the "land of poets and thinkers." Sabine Appel skillfully portrays the life of an engaged and self-assured woman, creating an impressive portrait of Germany around 1800.