"Alan Menhennet identifies and analyzes examples of German drama that are historical not only in terms of the provenance of the material, but also in that, while remaining dramatic in nature, they do convey a historical experience. He provides a critical survey of such plays extending from the seventeenth century to the twentieth, in the contexts of literary history, the philosophy of history, and German history from the Thirty Years' War to the Second World War.

Major figures treated include Gryphius, Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Schnitzler, and Brecht. There is no competing work in English."--BOOK JACKET.