9Acclaimed by The Guardian as "one of the best novels of the twentieth century," Thomas Mann's landmark work chronicles the decline of four generations of a German merchant clan. Ranging from 1835 to 1877, the semi-autobiographical tale traces the dissolution of the family's bonds and traditions in the face of a changing world, exploring not only the fate of an individual household but also the crisis of an entire social class.
With the 1901 publication of Buddenbrooks, his first novel, 26-year-old Mann secured the basis for his literary reputation. The author's skillful combination of nineteenth-century realism with modernist elements provides an accurate reflection of Germany's widespread cultural pessimism in the wake of its rapid industrialization. In addition to its appeal as a sweeping saga of a family's dramatic reversal of fortunes, the book also offers a richly detailed exploration of thought-provoking moral and philosophical themes related to duty, self-expression, and appearance versus reality.