The textbook-like title of this book is rather misleading. This thematically compact monograph by Feiwel Kupferberg (associate professor of sociology at Aalborg University in Denmark) mainly focuses on the source of difficulties of German reunification. Kupferberg argues that they stem not so much from the economic transition, but from the discrepancies in the ways the West Germans ("Wessies") and East Germans ("Ossies") have viewed their Nazi past. Whereas the West Germans grimly faced it, atoned for it, and transformed their half of the country into a prosperous, free democracy that valued both individual freedom and responsibility, the East Germans absorbed the Soviet-made myth that East Germany was the "victor of history" that successfully resisted the fascists. They blamed their western compatriots for the Nazi atrocities, because West Germany - like Hitler's Germany - was, after all, a capitalist economy. Contrary to popular belief, many Ossies have done quite well economically, precisely because they tend to be more obedient and less opinionated than Wessies, the author states. (19). While reunification has been difficult for both German groups, the East Germans have blamed West Germans for closing down their factories and trying to reclaim their land that was lost during World War II. This is ironic, give the fact that the East Germans clamored for reunification the most strenuously and have contributed the least amount of wealth to Germany. According to the author, the Kohl government decided to move quickly on reunification because the piecemeal exodus of East German refugees was irritating local mayors and jeopardizing the reunification policy altogether. It was better to push the policy through, open the floodgates, and then get on with the real business of assimilation. (28). In contrast to the petulant East Germans, inwardly resentful West Germans - who footed the hefty bill of reunification - generally restrain themselves from criticizing their eastern neighbors, deeming this "politically incorrect." Kupferberg points to the interesting parallel here with West Germans' ginger treatment of Jews just after World War: it was also politically incorrect to pan them. Indeed a "philo-Semitism" developed. Jews in post-war Western Germany "were elevated overnight from sub-humans to model citizens," he writes (25).
Kupferberg offers profound insights about the long underestimated effects of the communist culture on East Germans, which became clear only after reunification in 1989, when the differences in coping styles and views of the Nazi past emerged. He articulates well the thesis that the rigid communist system in the GDR inculcated passivity, helplessness, and amoral pragmatism in its citizens. By depriving them of a panoply of individual freedoms - of creative expression, foreign travel, etcetera - the system also relieved citizens of individual responsibility and necessary risk-taking. They were trained to look to external sources for cradle-to-grave security. From this perspective, it is not surprising that East Germans also blamed an external source - the West Germans - for their post-reunification troubles.
As Kupferberg explains, the Soviet occupiers after 1945 were shrewd to promulgate the abovementioned "victors of history" myth. Indoctrinated to view themselves as communist resistance fighters who defeated the Nazis, East German citizens never had to ask or answer tough moral questions about their complicity in Hitler's regime. It was easy to blame West Germany for World War II and the Holocaust, given the presence of officials with Nazi pasts in Chancellor Adenauer's government and intelligence service (originally General Gehlen's Organization) as well.
Not only historians, but political scientists and sociologists will find this book well worth reading. Not all East Germans were as brainwashed as Kupferberg suggests, however; for that reason serious students of German reunification should also consult Christian Joppke's East German Dissidents and the Revolution of 1989: Social Movement in a Leninist Regime (NY: New York University Press, 1995). For a broader perspective on German reunification and its effects on German policies toward the European Union, students should also read Jeffrey Anderson's German Unification and the Union of Europe: The Domestic Politics of Integration Policy (Cambridge University Press, 1999).---Johanna Granville, Ph.D. (Stanford University)

This book actually is about two empires -- the "Inner Empire" of the Soviet Union and the "Outer Empire" of the Soviet Bloc. The book is exceedingly well written and hard to put down. Though it ignores broad swaths of Soviet history (military confrontation with the west, relationship with China, etc), it admits that it doesn't tell all, and, more importantly, tells what it does very clearly.

The crisises of 1956, 1968, and 1980 are examined in detail, and throughout humor is used to get the point across (such at the Kiti-Kat fiasco, and contemporary Soviet and Eastern European jokes about the regime).

Although first written in 1856 the author applies a spell-binding style to tell the gruesome history of the birth of the Dutch nation from the unrelenting suppression of the religious and political aspirations of a sophisticated and rich people. In Volume I Motley covers the period from Emporer Charles V to the appointment of Count Alva as military overlord of the Netherlands. In Volume II he continues to describe in great detail the circumstances, personages, and intrigues that so painfully come together and nearly destroy the industrial and economic powerhouse in the low countries. He excellently explains the motives and actions of William of Orange, the follies of his noble friends and their destruction, the cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition, and, eventually, the rising of the people against the hated Alva and his mercenary murderers. It is the start of the 80 Year War of which this book covers the first seven bloody years.
Since I found this series in my father's book case and started reading I have not been able to put it down. The series take the reader to live the period and understand the human drama and the hope and perseverance that lift a population to found the most powerful nation in the world.

This is a very fine overview of early Roman history, told in a series of essays by noted scholars. High school and undergraduate college students will find it easy to read, yet highly informative and valuable. I do question the book's title, though. The book covers events up to the Roman conquest of Greece in the second century B.C., which was well before the start of the Roman Empire. So why is it called Rise of the Roman Empire? This is a minor point, I admit, considering that the book is so well done.

If you love trains and history as much as I do you will love this book.

Although I was required to purchase and use this book for my Roman History course, I found it to be absolutely amazing in quality and detailed and compelling in content.

No enthusiast of Classical civilization, amature or professional, should be without this book.

Philosophically and scientifically, Rome always played second-lyre to the Greeks. But poetry was the one domain (off the battlefield) where the Romans conquered *without* being captured. From Wender's superb translations, it's possible even for the Latin-less to appreciate Rome's finest art. From Catullus to Lucretius, the Romans are here at their most humane and literate, and reading these poems, you too could weep as Ovid did in memory of the City of the World. But I can't fail to mention why this collection of poems beats all the others--that is, Wender's hilariously funny "Introduction" on Rome, Greece, and the United States. To the dismay of my fiancee, I read it to all my dinner guests, and even the most artless (Roman?) of them can hardly keep from falling out of their chairs laughing!

So, buy this book now, and--in Wender's words--"Read these good poems."

I think this well-written and engaging book is a major contribution to our understanding of the disturbing and continuing decline in political participation in the world's industrial democracies. A key factor explaining that trend, Milner argues, is the decline in civic literacy - the knowledge and skills individuals need to make sense of their political world and to act as competent citizens. Milner proposes his civic literacy theory as a superior alternative to the social capital theory advanced by Robert Putnam and others. If social capital does not translate into higher levels of civic literacy, Milner contends, it will not motivate and empower citizens to participate in politics. Civic literacy is key. To test his theory, Milner draws upon extensive political research on the U.S., Canada, western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He measures and compares levels of national civic literacy. He demonstrates the positive linkage between civic literacy and various forms of political participation (including voting). He documents the increasingly negative impact of TV and other media on the quality of civic education. He also shows how political institutions (particularly party systems and electoral rules) can promote or retard the development of civic literacy. He concludes his fine book by exploring the direct and indirect effects of civic literacy on economic performance and social justice in many nations. As a political scientist and an educator, I was particularly inspired by Milner's call for educational and electoral reforms as a means to promote civic literacy, mobilize participation, and improve our democracy.

This is the standard reference book for collecting ancient Roman silver coins. Although it was first published many years ago, it is still THE standard work on the subject. No collector of Roman silver should be without it. Always buy the book first, then the coin.

I first read Patricia Hampl's I Could Tell You Stories when I took a 1st person essay writing class, and all of us in the class became instant fans. Her book provoked endless discussions about the reliability (or Unreliability) of memory and the role it plays in memoir writing. Hampl's A Romantic Education allows us to continue following her down her chosen path as she returns to Prague in search of her heritage during the gray pall of socialism. This edition of A Romantic Education is a reissue following the Velvet Revolution and is full of richly nuanced detail that we have come to expect from Hampl. It's an elegant piece of writing that allows us to taste and dabble in the trickling stream of history running beneath the surface of the everlasting riddle of personal memory.