The conflict between Ernst Barlach, the most important German sculptor of the time, and the Third Reich is a remarkable episode in Hitler's war against modern art. Rather than accept repression passively, Barlach denounced the confiscation and destruction of his work as ideologically inspired and continued on his independent course. The author's discussion of Barlach's art and of his insistence on creative freedom is joined to an analysis of his opponents' motives and tactics. Hitler's ill-informed rantings against modernism in German art were nevertheless an internally consistent and politically effective critique of liberal culture. That despite Hitler's strictures some National Socialists advocated a "Nordic modernism" and tried to win Barlach to their cause exemplifies the cultural crosscurrents running through the Third Reich. Peter Paret's closely focused study of an artist in a time of crisis seamlessly combines the history of modern Germany and the history of modern art.