Viennese intellectuals, artists and nationalists, with a dash of Freud

Review of Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture by Carl E. Schorske

It is easier to say what this book is not than what it is: not a narrative history, not an analysis of causes, not even a basic introduction. It lacks clear definitions of the movements it is supposed to cover, such as liberalism, modernism, psychoanalysis, and the birth of mass nationalistic politics. That means that readers will either have to be fami…