Focusing on feminism in Germany, Towards Emancipation examines some of the most influential women writers of the nineteenth century, from the late-Romantic writers, such as Bettina von Arnim and Johanna Schopenhauer, to writers who were active in the 1848 Revolution, such as Malwida von Meysenbug and Johanna Kinkel. The heart of the book is devoted to the leading proponents of emancipation, Hedwig Dohm, Helene Bohlau and the prolific Louise Otto-Peters, yet it also includes mainstream writers whose attitudes towards the movement range from lukewarm (the enormously popular Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and Gabriele Reuter) to downright hostile (Lou Andreas-Salome and Franziska zu Reventlow).

This is the third in a set of three books following the life and achievements of Franz Liszt. This volume focuses on his final years, from 1861-1886.

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was an anomaly. A virtuoso pianist and electrifying showman, he toured extensively throughout the European continent, bringing sold-out audiences to states of ecstasy while courting scandal with his frequent womanizing. Drawing on new, highly revealing documentary sources, including a veritable treasure trove of previously unexamined material on Liszt’s Weimar years, best-selling author Oliver Hilmes shines a spotlight on the extraordinary life and career of this singularly dazzling musical phenomenon. Whereas previous biographies have focused primarily on the composer’s musical contributions, Hilmes showcases Liszt the man in all his many shades and personal reinventions: child prodigy, Romantic eccentric, fervent Catholic, actor, lothario, celebrity, businessman, genius, and extravagant show-off. The author immerses the reader in the intrigues of the nineteenth-century European glitterati (including Liszt’s powerful patrons, the monstrous Wagner clan) while exploring the true, complex face of the artist and the soul of his music. No other Liszt biography in English is as colorful, witty, and compulsively readable, or reveals as much about the true nature of this extraordinary, outrageous talent.