Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

The great German writer Thomas Mann, called this novel, "Audacious and magnificent." I would have to say that it is the most original novel, encompassing religion, philosophy, history, and psychology, et al, which has ever been written.

In short, there was an amoral and ambivalent bent in Viereck's character which made him appear, for a time, as a liberal and very tolerant individual. Thus, in the 1920's he wrote articles reflecting sympathy for Hitler and Ludendorff on the one hand and displaying deep respect for Shaw, Freud, and Einstein on the other. He became in this period the chief American spokesman for the ex-Kaiser in Holland. He also interviewed Hitler in early 1923 and published the interview in his own journal after several newspaper editors turned it down as not newsworthy. At that time he concluded, "If he lives, Hitler for better or for worse, is sure to make history." [23]