At every major crisis in more than a century of German history the von Moltke family has played a critical role . The history of the family is thus a way of perceiving and assessing the history of modern Germany. For the Germany of the von Moltkes was also the Germany of Bismarck and Hitler, Wagner and Strauss, Nietzsche, Mann, and Brecht. Friedrich’s vivid and knowledgeable style makes this an absorbing historical chronicle full of characters and events on a broad canvas along with personal histories, anecdotes, and gossip within and without the corridors of power.

Otto Friedrich (1929-1995) was many things. He was a journalist and cultural historian. He was a contributing editor at The Saturday Evening Post and Time magazine and he was the author of fourteen books, including Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, and CITY OF NETS: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s. This site contains archival material that provides deep insight into one of the 20th Century’s most fascinating writers.

A fascinating portrait of the turbulent political, social and cultural life of the city of Berlin in the 1920s

In a delightfully different account of art and politics during the Second Empire, Friedrich sketches a landscape that encompasses Napoleon III, Flaubert,Wagner, Proust, Degas, Zola, Monet, Hugo, Manet and many others, both famous and infamous.

The tragic love story of Glover and Henry Adams and their brilliant life in America’s Gilded Age

This dazzling story of Hollywood during the decade of its greatest success is a social and cultural history of the movie capital’s golden age. Its cast includes actors, writers, musicians and composers, producers and directors, racketeers and labor leaders, journalists and politicians in the turbulent decade from World War II to Korea.