Frankfurt is a city that punches well above its weight. Despite its diminutive size--it has fewer than a million inhabitants--it is a financial centre of global importance, named alongside metropolises & capitals such as Tokyo, London, & New York. Yet Frankfurt is a city that is also continually underestimated: many of the millions who visit it on business--both German & from other countries--see little more of it than its airport & its skyscrapers. The city`s role in the global financial markets often obscures its importance as a historical & cultural centre, not just for Germany, but for Europe & the West as a whole. In the Middle Ages, Frankfurt was the city in which the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned & in which, at the dawn of the Renaissance, a tradition of printing & publishing was established which lives on in today`s Frankfurt Book Fair. The German language`s most enduring author, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, was born in the city, & the university named for him gave birth to one of the twentieth century`s most revolutionary academic developments, the Frankfurt School. Architecturally, too, the city has always been a pioneer: its famous skyline is only the latest & most visible in a series of bold experiments. Frankfurt has always been a capital without a country: the capital of the book trade, the capital of modern social studies, the capital of the Eurozone. Today, it rivals Brussels, Berlin, Paris, & London, & yet retains a deeply provincial, down-to-earth identity interwoven with the thick forests & farming country of its Hessian hinterl&. While its population is one of the world`s most international, its dialect is one of Germany`s most impenetrable. For those looking to do more than just change flights or sign a contract, this cultural guide takes a closer look at Frankfurt, exploring & explaining these dichotomies.