German Culture Past and Present

"German Culture Past and Present" by Ernest Belfort Bax is a journey into Germany's past, specifically the time between the Middle Ages and the Reformation. It's like stepping back to explore parts of German culture that many people don't know about, showing how life and thought changed during this important period. The book starts by looking at Europe in the late 1400s, when things seemed old-fashioned on the outside but were actually changing a lot underneath. Ideas like personal freedom and new ways of making money were becoming popular, thanks to things like guns, business, and Renaissance thinking. These changes caused tension, which eventually exploded into big events like the Reformation, shaping the Germany we know today.