In his almost sixty years as an active German scholar, Hermann Boeschenstein, a voracious reader, possessed the unique ability not only to discern the fundamental currents of an age, but also to see the lines of continuity and development between one age and the next. Here, in his "History of Modern German Literature, " he demonstrates a rare achievement. He has filtered a century of German literature through a discerning mind and distilled for us its lasting essence. This book presents a continuous narrative of twentieth century German literature from a point of view that stresses the human, social and artistic continuity of the modern era. Above all, the author traces the thread of the humanistic tradition which weaves its way through the fabric of German literature from Nietzsche to the present day.