A native of Cracow, Poland, Harry Steinhauer was Professor Emeritus and Founding Chair of the Germanic, Slavic, and Semitic Studies Department at the University of Santa Barbara.

Preface
1. Johann Gottfried Herder, Life
2. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Phoenix
3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wanderer's Night Song
4. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Benefactions
5. Albrecht Goes, The Steps
6. Johann Peter Hebel, Gratitude and Ingratitude of Children
7. Brüder Grimm, The Little Peasant in Heaven
8. Hermann Hesse, In the Mist
9. Hermann Hesse, Trees
10. Walter Bauer, Yearning for What
11. Brüder Grimm, The Life Span
12. On Germany: 1. Country and People
13. Wilhelm Schmidtbonn, The Ferryman and the Monk
14. Thoughts I
15. Heinrich Heine, There Was an Old King
16. On Germany: 2. Economics
17. Otto Ludwig, Fortune and Misfortune
18. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lynkeus' Song
19. Walter Bauer, Bach
20. On Germany: 3. The Social Structure; 4. Culture
21. Thoughts II
22. Wilhelm Müller, The Linden Tree
23. The Dangers of Translating
24. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, May Song
25. Fritz Mauthner, The School of Giving and the School of Taking
26. Eduard Mörike, September Morning
27. About the German Language
28. Walter Bauer, Kant
29. Wilhelm Busch, The Indispensable One
30. On Germany: 5. Art; 6. Balance Sheet
31. Eduard Mörike, Seclusion
32. Thoughts III
33. Goethe
34. Peter Rosegger, When Winter Comes
35. Walter Bauer, Martin Luther
36. Theodor Storm, Close Both My Eyes
37. Kurt Tucholsky, What We Are Proud of in Europe
38. Heinrich Heine, The Silesian Weavers
39. Johann Peter Hebel, Kannitverstan
40. German Philosophy
41. Friedrich von Schiller, The Glove
42. Peter Bamm, In Memoriam Rockefeller
43. Matthias Claudius, Of Friendship
44. Paul Ernst, The Bed
45. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Autumnal Feeling
46. Waldemar Bonsels, The Grasshopper
47. William Shakespeare, Hamlet's Monologue
48. Thoughts IV
49. Herbert Eulenberg, Walt Whitman
50. August Graf von Platen, Tristan
51. Ludwig Börne, On Social Intercourse
52. Friedrich Hölderlin, The Half of Life
Notes
Questions
Vocabulary