Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School

In his laboriously researched study, Stuart Jeffries presents a panoramic history of one of the most influential schools of philosophy in the twentieth century.

Founded between the First and the Second World Wars, the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt has not only influenced development of social sciences and humanities, but also shaped the structure of contemporary Western universities, social movements and political discourses. The concepts of alienation, one-dimensional man, and critical theory, along with the names of Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse have long been inscribed not only into the history of thought, but also into popular culture. Spanning a period that starts with horsecars and zeppelins and ends with Occupy Wall Street and social media, Stuart Jeffries writes an engaging introduction into the history of one of the greatest intellectual phenomena of the twentieth century.