The epic of the 1920s – the most significant decade in the intellectual history of Germany. “This book – rich in images, abundant in ideas, and exceptionally well-written – describes the ten years from 1919 to 1929, the years in which Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Benjamin, and Cassirer gain global recognition. Although they had little contact with one another, there is much that connects them. Together, as Eilenberger compellingly shows us, they compose an astonishing intellectual coincidence, four life plans and four answers to the same question: What is man? What emerges is a great moment for the constellation of philosophy – in the shadow of a preceding devastation and one that will follow.” Rüdiger Safranski.

The meteoric rise of Martin Heidegger and the love of Hannah Arendt, the unstable Walter Benjamin, the genius scion of a family of billionaires Ludwig Wittgenstein, who, despite being adored as the "god of philosophy" at Cambridge, teaches impoverished in provincial schools of Lower Austria. And finally, Ernst Cassirer, who experiences the rise of anti-Semitism on his own body in the urban suburbs of Hamburg.

In the lives and revolutionary thoughts of these philosophers, Eilenberger sees the foundation of our current world being established. Wolfram Eilenberger, author and for many years editor-in-chief of Philosophie Magazin and perhaps the most talented popularizer of intellectual history in the German-speaking world, revives ten very critical years of philosophical becoming, and at the same time the reality of an entire decade that moves between revelry and economic crisis, post-war climate, and impending National Socialism.

Thanks to his great narrative art, the retrospective look at the 1920s becomes both inspiration and warning, but primarily a reading pleasure. “Eilenberger brings the magicians of the spirit out of the shadows of their texts and gives us a history of thought that brings philosophy to life.” The New York Times Book Review.

“Incredible erudition, masterful structure, intertwining the lives of these four personalities, loves, financial problems, ontological concerns, within a Weimar Republic that is in turmoil.” The Times.

“A gripping read that illuminates a critical period of European history and European spirit, which has undetermined similarities with today's reality.” The Telegraph.

“By excellently combining biography with the history of the spirit, The Age of Wizards highlights destruction as the midwife of modern philosophy. It’s hard to find anything that better reflects our own era.” Pankaj Mishra.

“A book that teaches us how to live in times of crisis and how to think about them, things we need again today.” Anne Applebaum.