Our Fritz: Emperor Frederick III and the Political Culture of Imperial Germany

by Frank Lorenz Müller

Overview

In the first comprehensive life of Frederick III, Müller reconstructs how the beloved persona of “Our Fritz” was created and used for various political purposes before and after the emperor’s tragic death from throat cancer. Frederick III served as a canvas onto which different political forces projected their hopes and fears for Germany's future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674048386
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/10/2011
Pages:	366
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Frank Lorenz Müller is Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of St Andrews.

Table of Contents

Contents
The Hohenzollern Monarchs
Introduction
1. Shaping a Prince’s Life
2. Liberalism and Empire
3. A National Treasure
4. The Politics of Succession
5. Illness and Reign
6. Contested Memory
Conclusion
Abbreviations
Notes
Sources and Works Cited
Acknowledgments
Index

What People are Saying About This

James Retallack

I found this one of the most readable, enjoyable, and wise studies on Imperial Germany to have appeared in the past decade. The title Our Fritz illustrates how Müller is able to avoid writing a hagiography of a tragic king. Instead, he weaves the threads of affection -- given and received, not given and not received -- into a fabric that envelops a nuclear family, a dynasty, and a nation. A mature scholarly assessment and first-rate writing make the story of Frederick come alive and offer something genuinely new. I highly recommend it.
— James Retallack, University of Toronto

Christopher Clark

A gripping biographical study of a fascinating and important figure. Müller presents a number of bracingly revisionist arguments in a thorough, rigorous, and compelling way, anchored in a witty and humane portrayal of the central actors. My enthusiasm for this book is not only for its historical acuity, breadth of compass, and evidentiary depth, but for the memorable portrait it paints of a gifted, privileged, melancholy, and doomed individual.
— Christopher Clark, author of Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

Editorial Reviews

I found this one of the most readable, enjoyable, and wise studies on Imperial Germany to have appeared in the past decade. The title Our Fritz illustrates how Müller is able to avoid writing a hagiography of a tragic king. Instead, he weaves the threads of affection -- given and received, not given and not received -- into a fabric that envelops a nuclear family, a dynasty, and a nation. A mature scholarly assessment and first-rate writing make the story of Frederick come alive and offer something genuinely new. I highly recommend it.
-- James Retallack, University of Toronto

A gripping biographical study of a fascinating and important figure. Müller presents a number of bracingly revisionist arguments in a thorough, rigorous, and compelling way, anchored in a witty and humane portrayal of the central actors. My enthusiasm for this book is not only for its historical acuity, breadth of compass, and evidentiary depth, but for the memorable portrait it paints of a gifted, privileged, melancholy, and doomed individual.
-- Christopher Clark, author of Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

[A] thought-provoking, highly informed biography.
-- Martin Rubin Wall Street Journal

Effective, well-grounded and thoughtful...This is an important work, particularly notable for its discussion of political myths, and especially as a political resource. It is to be hoped that comparable work can be produced for several other contemporary rulers.
-- Jeremy Black Times Higher Education

How many times have I told a class that if only William I had died earlier, the history of Europe would have been different? Frank Lorenz Müller has made me less certain of that. His excellent biography of Frederick William--one part biography, one part revisionism and one part cultural histor--offers a subtler, more nuanced and less emotional account of "Our Fritz."
-- Jonathan Steinberg London Review of Books

A concise, vivid and unfailingly interesting portrait of one of the nineteenth century's most appealing and most unhappy rulers.
-- James J. Sheehan Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Effective, well-grounded and thoughtful...This is an important work, particularly notable for its discussion of political myths, and especially as a political resource. It is to be hoped that comparable work can be produced for several other contemporary rulers.

Times Higher Education - Jeremy Black

[A] thought-provoking, highly informed biography.

Wall Street Journal - Martin Rubin

I found this one of the most readable, enjoyable, and wise studies on Imperial Germany to have appeared in the past decade. The title Our Fritz illustrates how Müller is able to avoid writing a hagiography of a tragic king. Instead, he weaves the threads of affection — given and received, not given and not received — into a fabric that envelops a nuclear family, a dynasty, and a nation. A mature scholarly assessment and first-rate writing make the story of Frederick come alive and offer something genuinely new. I highly recommend it.

James Retallack

A concise, vivid and unfailingly interesting portrait of one of the nineteenth century's most appealing and most unhappy rulers.

Times Literary Supplement - James J. Sheehan

A gripping biographical study of a fascinating and important figure. Müller presents a number of bracingly revisionist arguments in a thorough, rigorous, and compelling way, anchored in a witty and humane portrayal of the central actors. My enthusiasm for this book is not only for its historical acuity, breadth of compass, and evidentiary depth, but for the memorable portrait it paints of a gifted, privileged, melancholy, and doomed individual.

Christopher Clark

How many times have I told a class that if only William I had died earlier, the history of Europe would have been different? Frank Lorenz Müller has made me less certain of that. His excellent biography of Frederick William—one part biography, one part revisionism and one part cultural histor—offers a subtler, more nuanced and less emotional account of "Our Fritz."

London Review of Books - Jonathan Steinberg

A concise, vivid and unfailingly interesting portrait of one of the nineteenth century's most appealing and most unhappy rulers.
— James J. Sheehan

Times Literary Supplement

How many times have I told a class that if only William I had died earlier, the history of Europe would have been different? Frank Lorenz Müller has made me less certain of that. His excellent biography of Frederick William—one part biography, one part revisionism and one part cultural histor—offers a subtler, more nuanced and less emotional account of "Our Fritz."
— Jonathan Steinberg

London Review of Books

Effective, well-grounded and thoughtful...This is an important work, particularly notable for its discussion of political myths, and especially as a political resource. It is to be hoped that comparable work can be produced for several other contemporary rulers.
— Jeremy Black

Times Higher Education

[A] thought-provoking, highly informed biography.
— Martin Rubin

Wall Street Journal