The soldier-philosopher, a combination with which ancient civilizations such as those of Greece and Rome were quite comfortable, has become a rarity in the modern age of progressive overspecialization. If one adds the categories of naturalist, writer, and essayist, one moves into even more rarified circles. Ernst Jünger, blending the courage of the soldier with the curiosity of the student of life forms, the skill and imagination of the literary stylist with the probing intellect of the researcher, was such an exceptional individual. What made him even more special is the fact that he was still writing in his nineties. His represents the longest life span of any major figure in the annals of German literature. To call him the doyen of twentieth-century German letters is indeed no exaggeration.

Born into the soaring Second German Reich, nurtured on its ideals of expansive nationalism and imperialism, he...