The ritual of granting awards is an important instrument of power in the cultural industry. The book focuses on the most significant award for German-language literature: the Georg-Büchner Award. It describes, for example, the interaction between the history and the respective societal function of the Büchner Award and German history during the period from the Weimar Republic to the Berlin Republic. Thus, the result is not only a multifaceted portrait of an important impetus in German literary life, but also a sociogram of the cultural industry in general.

Judith S. Ulmer, Heidelberg.