Man of the World: Memoirs of Europe, Asia and North America (1930s to 1980s)

Hans B. Neumann is an assistant professor of history at Scarborough
College, University of Toronto.

Klaus H. Pringsheim, one of Canada’s leading scholars of Asian
politics and culture, was born in Germany in 1923 and remained there
into his teens. He lived in Japan, the United States, and Hong Kong
before coming to Canada in 1965.

Pringsheim has a rich and well-connected life to draw upon for these
memoirs. His adoptive father was a renowned musician and assistant to
the great composer Gustav Mahler; his uncle was the writer Thomas Mann;
and one of his cousins was the historian Golo Mann. Unfortunately
Pringsheim offers up few insights of any lasting impression. His
portraits of famous figures are reserved and discreet; indeed, the
book’s photographs often yield more intimate details than the text.
The real strength of these memoirs lies in the author’s skilful
depiction of the various cultures and vast panorama of events that
shaped his life. This accessible book deserves a broad general
readership.