“Chamberlain’s study is a masterly analysis and interpretation of the fate of mainstream Kantian philosophy in Mr. A.H.’s lifetime, as the tradition of individual autonomy and high moral earnest failed to come to terms with the modern challenges of mass culture and technologization. But Chamberlain shows too how, from the rubble, just these elements—from Benjamin and Cassirer, Adorno and Arendt, and, yes, even Heidegger—were used to rebuild the house of German philosophy in today’s form. Her study combines vast scholarship and formal ease with crystal lucidity and a beguiling confessional dimension.”
— Nicholas Saul, director (arts and humanities), Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, author of "Interrogations of Evolutionism in German Literature 1859–2011"
"This important, lively work tracks the failure of two generations of post-idealist philosophers to reconceive—in light of the social and economic upheaval that emerged during the lifetime of Adolf Hitler—Immanuel Kant’s conception of autonomy and moral personhood. . . . This work is a must read for anyone concerned, as were the philosophers Chamberlain discusses, about the place of meaning, value,and autonomy in a disenchanted world that tends toward biologism and both technological and scientific reductionism. Chamberlain writes from a seat of deep learning, but she has the ability to make the most abstruse ideas clear and relevant to the narrative of her intellectual history of this period. . . . Highly recommended."
— Choice
"Street Life and Morals: German Philosophy in Hitler’s Lifetime details a survey history of philosophical thought in Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries . . . It offers valuable content and material for an advanced, general audience interested in or seeking a general overview of German philosophy during the first half of the twentieth century."
— German Studies Review