Twilight of the Idols and the Antichrist

Provocative and controversial, these two powerful works were written by Friedrich Nietzsche at the height of his powers as a polemicist. Twilight of the Idols attacks the Platonic legacy in Western philosophy, opposing all universal principles of morality. The Antichrist, a denunciation of institutional Christianity, delivers a brilliant and scathing indictment of 19th-century European culture. Of the latter, critic H. L. Mencken declared, "At bottom it is enormously apt and effective — and on the surface it is undoubtedly a good show."