Silence is a Sin!

Even Angela Merkel writes open letters, addressing them »Dear Citizens«. However, this particular means of influencing public opinion in politics is only one manifestation of a whole journalistic form which is every bit as interesting and effective.

This collection of 28 examples from five centuries shows how authors have used open letters to honour, revile, warn, confess or draw attention to themselves; it reveals whether they were inundated with praise or fell into disgrace after their letters were published and indicates how successful or unsuccessful they were in fulfilling their objectives.
Thomas Müntzer agitates for war, Heinrich Heine makes fun of the ban on »Junges Deutschland«, Heinrich Mann demands that Chancellor Gustav Streseman introduce »common-sense dictatorship«, Bertolt Brecht warns against rearmament and Ulrike Meinhof confronts the wife of the Shah, Farah Diba, with Persian reality.