Modern Germany

Es sieht nicht alles schlimm aus in den achtziger Jahren. Aber vieles. Es ist das Jahrzehnt der explodierenden Dauerwellen und Pornoschnauzbärte, der aufgepumpten Schulterpolsterjacketts und schrillen Herumprotzerei; in den Achtzigern werden die Yuppies zu Vorreitern einer neuen Egoistenkultur. Doch gleichzeitig herrscht die Angst vor der Apokalypse, vor dem Atomtod und der Umweltzerstörung; die Menschen sehnen sich nach Utopien und Zukunft, nach neuer Gemeinschaft und Wärme.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, a steady stream of young German poets and thinkers coursed to the town of Jena to make history. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had dealt a one-two punch to the dynastic system. Confidence in traditional social, political, and religious norms had been replaced by a profound uncertainty that was as terrifying for some as it was exhilarating for others. Nowhere was the excitement more palpable than among the extraordinary group of poets, philosophers, translators, and socialites who gathered in this Thuringian village.

This fascinating three-thousand-year history of the census traces the making of the modern survey and explores its political power in the age of big data and surveillance. In April 2020, the United States will embark on what has been called "the largest peacetime mobilization in American...