Nicolaus Sombart (1923-2008), who ran a famous salon in Berlin, was an attractive figure in West German society. As a sociologist, he interpreted German social and cultural history as a "chronique scandaleuse" of gender relations. As a writer, he saw himself as a chronicler of the "big world", as one of the few in his profession who had access to their manners and behavior and erotic secrets. The follower of the utopian Saint-Simon saw his life as a continuous experiment. His aim was the self-stylization of the person through a combination of upper-class habitus, dandy-like eccentricity and exhibitionist gesture, an undertaking that has had an impact in today's media-dominated world. With his multifaceted biography of this dazzling figure of Berlin society, the cultural sociologist Gnter Erbe adds another enlightening chapter to his studies of the sophisticated world. He relies on the extensive estate of Nicolaus Sombart.