Some years ago the historian Fritz Stern wrote a book about Germany entitled The Politics of Cultural Despair. He used the example of three (now forgotten) bestselling authors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to show the deep aversion of many Germans to the modern world, notably to market economics and democratic politics.
若干年前，历史学家弗里茨·施特恩写过一本有关德国的书，书名是《对文化绝望的政治》。书中列举了十九世纪末二十世纪初三位畅销书作家（现在已经少有人知了），来说明很多德国人对现代世界，特别是市场经济和民主政治的切齿憎恶。施特恩认为，正是在这样的文化土壤之上国家社会主义得以滋生。