卡爾·休斯剋（Carl E. Schorske），生於紐約市，先後就讀於哥倫比亞學院和哈佛大學。他現為代頓—斯托剋頓曆史學教授，並一直擔任普林斯頓大學歐洲文化研究中心主任。休斯剋還曾在衛斯理大學和加州大學伯剋利校區擔任教職。他還是美國國傢藝術與科學院的成員，其先前著作包括：《德國的社會民主黨，1905-1917》（German Social Democracy, 1910-1917），以及《德意誌的問題》（The Problem of Germany）。

A landmark book from one of the truly original scholars of our time: a magnificent revelation of turn-of-the-century Vienna where out of a crisis of political and social disintegration so much of modern art and thought was born. "Not only is it a splendid exploration of several aspects of early modernism in their political context; it is an indicator of how the discipline of intellectual history is currently practiced by its most able and ambitious craftsmen. It is also a moving vindication of historical study itself, in the face of modernism's defiant suggestion that history is obsolete." -- David A. Hollinger, History Book Club Review "Each of [the seven separate studies] can be read separately....Yet they are so artfully designed and integrated that one who reads them in order is impressed by the book's wholeness and the momentum of its argument." -- Gordon A. Craig, The New Republic "A profound work...on one of the most important chapters of modern intellectual history" -- H.R. Trevor-Roper, front page, The New York Times Book Review "Invaluable to the social and political historian...as well as to those more concerned with the arts" -- John Willett, The New York Review of Books "A work of original synthesis and scholarship. Engrossing." -- Newsweek