Thomas Karlauf
Stefan George: Die Entdeckung des Charisma.
Pantheon Verlag, 2008. First edition. 9783570550762 816 pages.
Softcover volume, with flaps, measures approximately 5.5" x 8.75", shows light shelfwear. Pages are clean and bright. 
"Stefan George (1868–1933) was one of the most influential figures in German intellectual history as a poet, prophet and the center of a circle of disciples who were boundlessly devoted to him. After years of preparatory work, Thomas Karlauf has now presented the first George biography in German.
Stefan George was undoubtedly the most influential of the German poets in the first third of the 20th century. He had a decisive influence on German poetry. However, George owed his fame less to his poems and more to the fact that he staged himself more perfectly than almost anyone before him. The so-called George Circle, a group of men loyal to the poet, was also legendary – and still controversial to this day. Max Weber developed his model of “charismatic rule” from this circle of enthusiastic young people. George's person shows what power over people really means. There are numerous points of contact with National Socialism in his work (George died in 1933), many saw him as a "pioneer". And yet at the end of this path there is the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944: It was carried out by Claus von Stauffenberg, one of George's last confidants.
Thomas Karlauf has processed the entire research, his biography is scientifically up to date and told in a wonderfully lively way."