'Earthly Powers,' by Michael Burleigh

Review by MARK LILLA

It was not so long ago that the problem of religion was
central to European intellectual and political life. Contrary
to the legend of steady secularization, 19th-century Europe
was seriously divided over the problem.

Michael Burleigh is an accomplished popular historian
specializing in Germany. As he states in the introduction, he
set out to write a study of totalitarianism as the
continuation of modern attempts to reshape human nature
through what he calls "political religion." What opened up
instead was the whole rich landscape of 19th-century
religious and political thought, to which he has now devoted
an entire volume.

"Earthly Powers" is a surprisingly messy work with no clear
thesis to advance, lazily written in patches and in dire need
of editing. Still, it is a useful contribution in the present
moment, reminding us about some forgotten thinkers who were
grappling with remarkably contemporary problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/books/review/02lilla.html?8bu&emc=bu