In pursuit of the spirit of Weimar. Weimar represents both German greatness and German shame. The highs and lows of this ambivalent place are the focal points in Peter Merseburger's political cultural history of the city: From Luther, Bach, Goethe, and Liszt, he spans the arc over the birth of the Republic and the transition to modernity with the Staatliches Bauhaus, leading to the dictators of the 20th century. However, Peter Merseburger's book is not only the history of a city; it also narrates German history.