Time of the Magicians'Weaves together the biographies and the developing thought of the four philosophers with great bravura and wit' (Sunday Telegraph) The year is 1919. Walter Benjamin flees his overbearing father to scrape a living as a critic. Ludwig Wittgenstein signs away his inheritance, seeking spiritual clarity. Martin Heidegger renounces his faith and aligns his fortunes with Husserl's phenomenological school. Ernst Cassirer sketches a new schema of human