Carpe Mundum analyzes German Youth culture during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Each chapter
addresses a distinct topic: sex educational materials for young people the language of the
censorship debates novels dealing with war historical narration magazines popular science
and science fiction radio and sports. Together the themes illustrate the influence of
nineteenth-century holistic thinking in popular culture in early twentieth-century Germany.
Public policies and institutions governing German youth culture during the Weimar Republic
including education and social welfare evince spiritual underpinnings of Naturphilosophie - a
movement which promoted the unity of all things. As cultural modernity in Germany enabled young
people greater participation in shaping their culture elements of a modernity of youth emerged
as distinct from that of the adult world and its ideologically laden system of values. The
essence of youthful modernity in Germany as evident most clearly in popular magazines radio
and sports rests primarily on spontaneity ingenuity and camaraderie.
