Weltanschauung, Science and Economy

Sombart, Werner; Philip Johnson (Translator). Weltanschauung, Science and Economy. New York: Veritas Press, 1939. First American edition. Octavo. IX, [1], 60pp. Original burgundy cloth with gold lettering on spine and front cover. Publisher’s logo on title page. First printed in the Examiner, this essay was published in book form by the Veritas press, a publishing house funded by the German government through the German Library of Information for propaganda purposes. Sombart was an influential German sociologist in the early part of the 20th century who began to veer to the Right when he theorized an antisemitic critique of capitalism via racial archetypes, and supported the Nazi party in the 1930s. While “Weltanschauung, Science and Economy” is not a particularly important text in Sombart’s oeuvre and does not address the question of race, translating it gave Johnson, and the German government a chance to bring Sombart’s ideas to the American public. In the text Sombart explained that while the Nazis had a strong will, they lacked “a thorough philosophic training and education,” leading them to spend their time “aimlessly running about.” In other words, Nazi theory was not up to its practice. Previous owner’s name on free front endpaper. Binding and interior in overall very good condition. vg. Hardcover. (31709) $40