Historical Dictionary of German Literature to 1945 covers a wide swath of literary analysis and achievement, from Old High German lays and ecclesiastical encomia to Middle High German epics, sagas, and love lyrics. While extensive in its chronological dimension, the Historical Dictionary of German Literature to 1945 is equally comprehensive in the geographical and genre areas it covers.

The history of this period in German literature is told through a detailed chronology, an introductory essay, a comprehensive bibliography, and over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on poetry, novels, historical narrative, philosophical musings, and drama. The exceptional writers who emerged and shaped German literature over the centuries—including Walther von der Vogelweide, Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, and many others who are well known and admired worldwide—are also covered.