An intimate biography of an eminent historian of art and culture, exploring his life both within and away from the academy. Tangled Paths tells the life story of Aby Warburg (1866-1929), one of the most influential historians of art and culture of the twentieth century. It also tells the story of a man who, throughout his life, struggled to assert his place in the world. Charting Warburg's many projects and identities--groundbreaking historian, public intellectual, ethnographer, shrewd academic administrator, and founder of a library--the book explores not only the vagaries of an academic career but also the personal demons of a man who relentlessly sought to live up to his own expectations. In this biography--the first in English in over fifty years--Hans C. Hönes presents an evocative and richly detailed portrait of Warburg's personality and career, and of his attempts to make sense of the tangled paths of his life.