Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe

These letters from 1875-1886 chart the decade in Max Weber's life beginning with the eleven-year-old schoolboy and ending with a graduate of twenty-one. The 149 edited and commentated letters are an impressive accompaniment to the young Weber's course of education during the 1871-founded German Empire. The letters span his schooldays at the humanities-orientated Charlottenburg Gymnasium to his study of law at the universities of Heidelberg, Strassbourg, Berlin, and Göttingen, while also taking in his army days in Strassbourg. The often diary-like entry reports written during his training to become a reserve officer are a unique first-hand account of the Prussian army. The early letters, addressed solely to his parents, siblings, and other close relatives, bear witness to the educated classes' careful cultivation of written communications. An expert introduction places the letters in their context, while preliminary editorial remarks, commentaries, directories, and registers complete the volume.