Geneva, Zurich, Basel: History, Culture, and National Identity

Abstract

Recognized by historians and politicians as a model for European unity, Switzerland is nonetheless a difficult country to understand as a whole. Whereas individual Swiss cities have strong identities in the international political, cultural and economic arenas, the country itself seems to be less than the sum of its parts. To capture the elusive spirit of Switzerland, four eminent writers explore the roots of its political unity and cultural diversity in a series of urban portraits. Nicolas Bouvier offers a quick-paced history of Geneva - the city John Calvin had envisioned as a radiating centre of godliness, international in its scope and legal in its methods - the home of the Red Cross and other world-wide humanitarian efforts. Gordon Craig examines Zurich, the city of the militant religious reformer Huldrych Zwingli, whose centralizing political zeal was harnessed by subsequent generations of Zurichers to lead Switzerland in its modernization. Today's economically powerful Zurich is analyzed in terms of its liberal past as a refuge for political activists and artists, and in terms of its current generational divisions, reflected, for example, by the presence of a needle park. Finally, Lionel Gossman explores the conciliatory Basel of Erasmus, showing how vigorous independence, resourcefulness and remembrance of its humanist traditions shaped the city's culture and economy.