Changes

|title=Anna Amalia, Grand Duchess: Patron of Goethe and Schiller

|author=Frances A Gerard

|reviewer=John Van der Kiste

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=9781781550168

|pages=256

|publisher=Fonthill Media

|date=June 2012

|summary=A biography of Anna Amalia, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, best remembered as the patron of Goethe and other men of letters who helped to make Weimar the cultural centre of 18th-century Germany

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Anna Amalia of Brunswick, a Duchess of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach in the eighteenth century, is scarcely little more than a footnote in European royal history these days. Nevertheless it was mainly through her patronage that the court of Weimar became one of the most artistically renowned of the time, a reputation it never lost throughout the increasingly militaristic times that Germany went through from the age of Bismarck and beyond.

The book does not have an index, but contains very detailed headings under each chapter title in the contents list, while 32 pages of plates contain a generous 57 black and white illustrations of excellent quality. While this is undoubtedly of specialised interest, it is encouraging to see books of this nature made widely available once again.

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