Following the widespread destruction of World War I, Europe in 1918 was faced with political, economic, and social chaos, especially in Germany. In volume 5 of his seven-volume biography of Rudolf Steiner, Peter Selg focuses on the three years following the "Great War" and Steiner's efforts to help restructure society in a way that might avoid a recurrence of such a terrible calamity in the future. He saw the root sociopolitical and spiritual causes of the devastation and sought to change the flawed worldviews and impulses that led to the hubris behind the World War.

Rudolf Steiner thus began to concentrate on various means to renew and invigorate society, both through immediate measures--especially in his plan for a "threefold social order"--and through the new form of pedagogy that came to fruition with the Waldorf education movement. Steiner saw that a renewed form of education was necessary to the development of peaceful and healthy social conditions in the future. This education was intended to help children grow into responsible, free, and imaginative adults.

This was a time of intense work for Rudolf Steiner, including a full schedule of travel and lectures, reaching out to political leaders, training teachers for the new schools, and working with theologians and ministers toward religious renewal.

"The major conflicts that have evoked the disasters of the recent years have spelt cultural devastation for large parts of the earth. More conflicts lie ahead. Humanity is preparing for the next world war. And the devastation of culture will continue." -- Rudolf Steiner, December 25, 1920

Rudolf Steiner, Life and Work, Seven Volumes

Vol. 1. (1861-1890): Childhood, Youth, and Study Years
(ISBN: 9781621480822 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480839 Hbk)

Vol. 2. (1890-1900): Weimar and Berlin
(ISBN: 9781621480853 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480860 Hbk)

Vol. 3. (1900-1914): Spiritual Science and Spiritual Community
(ISBN: 9781621480884 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621480891 Hbk)

Vol. 4. (1914-1918): The Years of World War I
(ISBN: 9781621481577 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621481584 Hbk)

Vol. 5. (1919-1922): Social Threefolding and the Waldorf School
(ISBN: 9781621481935 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621481942 Hbk)

Vol. 6. (1923): The Burning of the Goetheanum
(ISBN: 9781621482192 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621482208 Hbk)

Vol. 7. (1924-1925): The Anthroposophical Society and the School for Spiritual Science
(ISBN: 9781621482321 Pbk - ISBN: 9781621482338 Hbk)