Walter Benjamin

""Uwe Steiner is widely regarded as one of the leading Benjamin scholars working today, with particular expertise in aspects of Benjamin's work that are less familiar to an English-language audience. In Walter Benjamin, he has produced a truly outstanding introduction to Benjamin's work; this book is the product of a career spent thinking about Benjamin. Steiner is able not just to open up major works and concepts, but to show, in very short compass, their place in a complex cultural field. His ability to combine deep reading with broad contextualization is the ideal combination for a critical introduction to this major thinker. Written with precision and lucidity, this book does a real service to the legions of readers interested in Benjamin." Michael Jennings, Princeton University" "Praise For the German Edition" ""The scholarly judgment in this account proves itself insightful and reliable in showing how Benjamin holds his own uniquely labrinthine course through the sway of powerful contemporaries, as well as showing how decisively he could advance through improbable detours with figures of much lesser intrinsic significance or value. For this reason, the book offers much to tho