The Truth in Hell and Other Essays on Politics and Culture, 1935-1987

381 Pages·1989·20.581 MB·English

by  Hans Speier, Arthur J. Vidich

The Truth in Hell and Other Essays
on Politics and Culture, 1935-1987
This page intentionally left blank
The Truth in Hell
and Other Essays
on Politics and Culture,
1935-1987
HANS SPEIER
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1989
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1989 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Speier, Hans.
The truth in Hell and other essays on politics and culture,
1935-1987 / Hans Speier. p. cm.
Two essays translated from the German. Includes index.
ISBN 0-19-505875-5
1. Culture. 2. Communication— Social aspects.
3. Propaganda. 4. War and society. 5. Peace.
I. Title. HM101.S7695 1989 306-dcl9 88-37158 CIP
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Rebecca and Julie
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
The papers collected in this book were written during different periods
of my life while residing in the United States. I have not included
anything published prior to 1933, the year in which I left my native
Germany. The subjects of the essays point to different interests: sociol-
ogy, foreign affairs, and the history of war; communication and prop-
aganda; literature and the history of ideas. Only two essays, the Intro-
duction and chapter 1, were originally written in German. In preparing
the English version of the Introduction, I was grateful to receive help-
ful suggestions from Robert Jackall and Tom Dickey. I am also indebt-
ed to Robert Jackall for his translation of chapter 1. Differences in
dates of composition and written style, as well as the wide range of
themes to be found in this book, perhaps justify the autobiographical
Introduction, which tries to relate at least some of my intellectual
interests to experiences in my life.
All of the remaining essays were previously published, many in
books that are now out of print or hard to locate. If the reader feels so
inclined, he may attribute this collection either to an author's vanity in
trying to prove the enduring relevance of his thought or to his wish to
test its coherence.
Hartsdale, N. Y. H.S.
December 1988
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Prologue by Arthur J. Vidich, xi
Introduction: Autobiographical Notes, 3
PARTI
SOCIETY IN PEACE AND WAR, 33
1. Karl Mannheim as Sociologist of Knowledge, 35
2. Honor and Social Structure, 50
3. Militarism in the Eighteenth Century, 70
4. Ludendorff: The German Concept of Total War, 97
5. Risk, Security, and Modern Hero Worship, 117
PART II
COMMUNICATION AND PROPAGANDA, 135
6. The Changing Function of Communication, 137
7. The Rise of Public Opinion, 143
8. Psychological Warfare, 162
9. The Communication of Hidden Meaning, 189
PART III
LITERATURE AND THE HISTORY OF IDEAS, 213
10. Shakespeare's The Tempest, 215
11. Simplicissimus, the Irreverent Man, 227
12. Courage, the Adventuress, 245
13. The Fool and the Social Order, 256