"Marvelous. . . . Goldstein is a wonderfully imaginative biographer. In sparkling prose, beautifully translated by Janusch, he captures the highs and, even more memorably, the lows of Forster's short life."

Christoph Irmscher | Wall Street Journal

"Georg Forster is not really a biography of Forster at all. The chronological facts are detailed . . . at the beginning of each chapter, leaving Goldstein space to explore the development of Forster's mind. Forster's political ideas, he is keen to show, were formed not from abstractions, but from his direct experience of nature, 'realistically' rather than 'idealistically.'"

Maren Meinhardt | Literary Review

"Goldstein’s goal is to connect the thought of Forster the observant voyager and naturalist who accompanied Cook on his second voyage, and Forster the German revolutionary who died in exile in Paris in 1794. . . . Goldstein considers Foster an alternative to traditional Enlightenment thought: a figure who grounded his thought not in reason but in experience, in action not ideas, and who saw culture as emerging not in divergence from but out of nature. . . . Those who want to understand Forster’s thought and his contribution to political modernity will be well served by Goldstein’s prize-winning book. . . . Recommended."

Choice

“Step aside, Poe; take a bow, Melville: this brilliant, dark, even eerie meditation introduces the life and writings of Georg Forster, the greatest writer you’ve never read. In Janusch’s elegant translation, Goldstein’s quiet pages burn ever brighter with the voice of prophecy as we follow the youthful Forster around the world with Captain Cook, back to a Europe simmering on the brink of revolution, and into calamity as the vortex of revolutionary violence silences him, it would seem, forever. But thanks to this stunning book, Forster—the friend of Goethe, the teacher of Humboldt—lives once again to inspire us with his free-thinking vision, enlighten us with his incandescent descriptions, haunt us with his incisive honesty—and drive an arrow straight into the heart of modernity. Do you think revolution is the answer? Do you believe nature should be our model? Read this book: in equal measure it will give you hope and trouble your dreams.”

Laura Dassow Walls, University of Notre Dame, author of "Henry David Thoreau: A Life" and "Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt’s Shaping of America"

2016

Winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize (Non-fiction)

2015

Winner of the Gleim Literature Prize

“A rich and exciting book. . . . It imagines Forster as a thinker and therefore the relationship of the two main parts of his biography—circumnavigation and revolution—unite for the first time.”

Gustav Seibt | Süddeutsche Zeitung

“The two key concepts of the era, ‘nature’ and ‘revolution,’ which were in Forster’s thinking and actions, Goldstein reconstructs in an impressive way: in a thrilling, lucid style drawing on Forster's diaries, letters, and works.”

Oliver Pfohlmann | Neue Zürcher Zeitung

“The revolution is not a figment, but a natural phenomenon, a ‘self-ignition of the reason’ for Forster. To have developed this relationship, a ‘natural revolution,’ from Forster’s natural and human science is Goldstein’s no small merit.”

Alexander Košenina | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Goldstein explores Forster’s experience of life and the ambivalent relationship between nature and philosophy. He shows Forster as more than a shipwrecked hero, but rather as an insightful thinker who was as bold as he was stoic.”

Benedikt Erenz | DIE ZEIT

“Using extensive quotes, Goldstein thrillingly depicts Forster’s great journey, the impressions and ordeals of which are said to have remained with him for life.”

Janika Gelinek | Neue Zürcher Zeitung

“An extraordinary life story that is thrilling to read.”

Lina Kokaly | Radio Bremen