The Austrian Mind: An Intellectual and Social History, 1848-1938 Paperback - 1983

First line

BETWEEN 1867 and 1914 the Habsburg Empire presented the anomaly of a dynastic state whose floundering for lack of a purpose was matched by lack of a name.

From the rear cover

"The Austrian Mind is the first book in English or in German to analyze both in depth and in breadth the intellectual history of the Hapsburg Monarchy between 1848 and 1938. Based upon an impressive command of primary and secondary published sources, Johnston's book is a tour de force. In 400 pages of text the author evaluates the contribution of Austro-Hungarian intellectuals to economic, legal, and social theory, to the arts, to philosophy, to literature and criticism, and to medicine."--Annals "It is hard to write about this encyclopedic and uncommonly informative and stimulating study in anything but superlatives, for it is equally brilliant in conception and execution. . . . it is replete with detail, remarkably accurate, and lucidly written."--Modern Austrian Literature "A most readable and lively discussion of the complex systems of though current at the time and the way they interconnect. . . The rich intellectual achievement of the old Austria, in all its diversity and unity, in its characteristic boldness and ambiguity, is impressively demonstrated."--Journal of European Studies