In Europe's Name: Germany and the Divided Continent [Hardcover] Ash, Timothy Garton

From Library Journal This well-documented and detailed account of German reunification spans the period from Yalta right up to 1990 when the Berlin Wall crumbled and East Germans poured through the crack to the West. Ash, author of numerous books on Central Europe, uses mostly German source documents, many of which became available only recently with the collapse of East Germany. The centerpiece of his book is the history of "ostpolitik" and how it fit into West German foreign policy goals, especially toward the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Ostpolitik is also analyzed as a strictly German response to the so-called German question. West Germany's relations with the United States take a back seat to Bonn's relations with the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Europe as a whole. A scholarly book that will also be of interest to the informed lay person, this is a superb choice for all academic libraries and larger public libraries. - Stephen Green, Auraria Lib., Denver Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description A study of today's Germany examines the impact of a united Germany on European economics, demographics, and politics From Publishers Weekly How a divided Germany achieved reunification in 1990 is a story fraught with ironies and paradoxes in Ash's searching, magisterial study. West German policymakers, argues this distinguished British historian, built up a reserve of trust and good will by acceding peacefully to the "golden handcuffs" slapped on by the Western alliance, limiting Germany's sovereignty and curtailing its military power. Ash ( The Uses of Adversity ) investigates Bonn's precarious balancing act between NATO and the Soviet Union, as West German leaders convinced Moscow that it was the U.S.S.R's most promising economic partner. Meanwhile, suggests Ash, West Germany's failure to protest Communist East Germany's diehard policy of stabilization without reform inadvertently led East Germany to ruin. His study draws on memoirs, interviews with key players and on the declassified files of East Germany's secret police and Communist Party. Author tour. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "Among the most important books on recent international history...An immense research effort"--The New York Times Book Review "A subtle account of German policy toward the East over the past quarter century, elegantly written and suffused with...original insights."--The New York Review of Books From the Trade Paperback edition.