书中列举了十九世纪末二十世纪初三位畅销书作家（现在已经少有人知了 ） ， 来说明很多德国人对现代世界，特别是市场经济和民主政治的切齿憎恶。
He used the example of three (now forgotten) bestselling authors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to show the deep aversion of many Germans to the modern world, notably to market economics and democratic politics.