Chapter 12, Conclusions Summary and Analysis

By this late into the book, a handful of themes and most prevalent material have made themselves evident. The author has allowed these to emerge rather naturally as the work has unfolded. This is a rather natural method for looking at the 19th century on the whole. The work is quite limited in that the nations of Germany and France are overtly emphasized as having given the greatest shape to the culture on the Continent. Essentially, part of the dynamic of European life is which nations are dominant economically, militarily and politically. For Europeans, this virtually goes without saying, but for Americans it can be a blind spot in their awareness without being taught. As such, one of the benefits of Walter Benjamin's work is that it can educate North Americans about the nature of Europe in addition to...