After coming to the United States, Thomas Mann was appointed Consultant in Germanic Languages and Literatures at the Library of Congress, which has one of the largest German collections in the world. Part of his responsibilities was to present an annual lecture at the Library of Congress. This collection consists of the lectures he held there, and deals with the following topics: The Theme of the Joseph Novels; The War and the Future; Germany and the Germans; Nietzsche's Philosophy in the Light of Contemporary Events; and, Goethe and Democracy. In America, Thomas Mann was looked on as an authority figure, and was even referred to as the «Kaiser of the German émigrés», and as a latter-day Goethe. As the most influential and respected German in America, his lectures no doubt contributed to the American image of Germany, as well as of German culture in general, and are of great interest and significance as they relate to the history of German-American relations.

The Editor: Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Curator of the German-Americana Collection and Director of the German-American Studies Program, University of Cincinnati, is the author and editor of numerous works dealing with German-American history, literature, and culture, and serves as President of the Society for German-American Studies.