The Truth in Hell and Other Essays on Politics and Culture, 1935-1987 This page intentionally left blank The Truth in Hell and Other Essays on Politics and Culture, 1935-1987 HANS SPEIER New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1989 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1989 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Speier, Hans. The truth in Hell and other essays on politics and culture, 1935-1987 / Hans Speier. p. cm. Two essays translated from the German. Includes index. ISBN 0-19-505875-5 1. Culture. 2. Communication— Social aspects. 3. Propaganda. 4. War and society. 5. Peace. I. Title. HM101.S7695 1989 306-dcl9 88-37158 CIP 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Rebecca and Julie This page intentionally left blank Preface The papers collected in this book were written during different periods of my life while residing in the United States. I have not included anything published prior to 1933, the year in which I left my native Germany. The subjects of the essays point to different interests: sociol- ogy, foreign affairs, and the history of war; communication and prop- aganda; literature and the history of ideas. Only two essays, the Intro- duction and chapter 1, were originally written in German. In preparing the English version of the Introduction, I was grateful to receive help- ful suggestions from Robert Jackall and Tom Dickey. I am also indebt- ed to Robert Jackall for his translation of chapter 1. Differences in dates of composition and written style, as well as the wide range of themes to be found in this book, perhaps justify the autobiographical Introduction, which tries to relate at least some of my intellectual interests to experiences in my life. All of the remaining essays were previously published, many in books that are now out of print or hard to locate. If the reader feels so inclined, he may attribute this collection either to an author's vanity in trying to prove the enduring relevance of his thought or to his wish to test its coherence. Hartsdale, N. Y. H.S. December 1988 This page intentionally left blank Contents Prologue by Arthur J. Vidich, xi Introduction: Autobiographical Notes, 3 PARTI SOCIETY IN PEACE AND WAR, 33 1. Karl Mannheim as Sociologist of Knowledge, 35 2. Honor and Social Structure, 50 3. Militarism in the Eighteenth Century, 70 4. Ludendorff: The German Concept of Total War, 97 5. Risk, Security, and Modern Hero Worship, 117 PART II COMMUNICATION AND PROPAGANDA, 135 6. The Changing Function of Communication, 137 7. The Rise of Public Opinion, 143 8. Psychological Warfare, 162 9. The Communication of Hidden Meaning, 189 PART III LITERATURE AND THE HISTORY OF IDEAS, 213 10. Shakespeare's The Tempest, 215 11. Simplicissimus, the Irreverent Man, 227 12. Courage, the Adventuress, 245 13. The Fool and the Social Order, 256