... the most important contribution to Kierkegaard studies to be published in English in recent years.... Not only is it a fascinating, surprising, and perceptive study of Kierkegaard within his time and world, Kirmmse has produced a research resource, a reference work, that is simply without parallel or equal." --Michael Plekon It is a rare work of philosophy that not only clarifies its subject but also places it within an intellectual and historical context. In his study of 19th-century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, Kirmmse accomplishes both, setting a standard... " --Library Journal ... an outstanding contribution to Kierkegaard research... The book is intellectual history of the highest calibre." --So[slash]ren Kierkegaard Newsletter This excellent book is recommended for all collections on Kierkegaard... For all readers." --Choice This richly researched and readable book supplies an important contribution to the widespread reappropriation of Kierkegaard's thought currently taking place."--Theology Today This book is a tour de force in intellectual history." --Review of Metaphysics Kirmmse's book is a major work of scholarship that confers on Kierkegaard's social and intellectual universe a depth and a richness of detail that will permanently alter the familiar stereotypes about Kierkegaard's isolation from his fellow Danes and his supposedly fanatical campaign against philistine Denmark and its corrupt state church." --American Historical Review Against the background of Denmark's evolution from a mercantile economy to a broad-based agricultural economy, Kirmmse reinterprets Kierkegaard's thought as a reaction to the tensions within his society.