"The phrase fin de siecle conjures up images of artistic experimentation and political decadence. The contributors to this volume argue that Wilhelmine Germany - best known for its industrial and military muscle - also shared these traits. Their essays look back to the years between 1885 and 1914 to find in Germany a mixture of sociopolitical malaise and experimental exhilaration that was similar in many ways to the better-known cases of France and Austria."--BOOK JACKET.