August Bebel, German Social Democracy, and the Art of Biography

Presentation by Professor James Retallack (University of Toronto, Department of History), a 6-month JHI Faculty Research Fellow in 2022-23. Part of our JHI Alumni Research Lecture Series.
In this talk Retallack considers the challenges of writing the biography of a working-class political superstar. August Bebel was leader of the world’s largest socialist party before 1914. The modern medial age had made him into a global celebrity, an “anti-Kaiser.” His origin story as an impoverished child and humble craftsman created a public image of mythical proportions. How best to grapple with that image? Perhaps the biographer should try less to puncture the myth than let out just enough air to settle the man back to earth.