Synopses & Reviews
Germany Divided remains one of the most thought-provoking and comprehensive interpretations of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. This new edition contains an epilogue in which McAdams considers some of the political and economic problems faced by eastern and western Germans as they entered their fourth year of living together.
Review
"A masterly and elegantly written account of the interweaving of domestic politics and inter-German relations."
--International Affairs
Review
". . . a notable analysis of the two Germanys and how they became one."
--Publishers Weekly
Review
". . . comprehensive coverage and first-rate analysis of the intricate East-West German relationship in the 1970's and 80's."
--Choice
Review
"A. James McAdams' excellent book is above all the story of the two Germanies' forty-year history with each other. . . . Using a plethora of interviews and other primary sources, McAdams presents a story unavailable elsewhere."
--The Historian
Review
"Well documented and consistently rigorous, McAdams' study points out the immense challenges that remain before a liberal democratic Germany can be created."
--Orbis
Review
"An outstanding analysis of the changing relations between East and West Germany."
--Osteuropa
Synopsis
"There are very few scholars in the German field who move as comfortably between the different worlds of Bonn and East Berlin as does A. James McAdams."--Norman Naimark, Stanford University
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-244) and index.
Table of Contents
| Preface | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Abbreviations | |
| I | A Wall between the Germanys | 3 |
| Accepting Germany's Division | 5 |
| A German-German Consensus | 13 |
| II | One Germany, Two Alliances | 16 |
| The Soviet Ultimatum | 17 |
| East German Uncertainties | 23 |
| The Persistence of West German Policy | 30 |
| The Evolution of East German Policy | 36 |
| Divergent Priorities | 44 |
| The Construction of the Wall | 49 |
| III | Two Germanys: Confrontation or Accommodation? | 56 |
| Changing Surroundings | 57 |
| West Germany's Awkward Adaptation | 64 |
| The Rigidity of East German Policy | 71 |
| Bonn's Breakthrough: The Ostpolitik | 79 |
| The End of the Ulbricht Era | 87 |
| Two States in Germany? | 93 |
| IV | Two German States: New Relations, Bad Relations | 96 |
| The Inter-German Dilemma | 97 |
| The Benefits of Cooperation | 102 |
| Handling Questions of Principle | 106 |
| Whither Inter-German Ties: The View from Bonn | 113 |
| Whither Inter-German Ties: Retrenchment in the GDR | 121 |
| Toward a German-German Deadlock? | 126 |
| Inter-German Ties in Question | 133 |
| V | Accepting a Divided Germany | 134 |
| A Threat from the West | 135 |
| An East German Opportunity? | 141 |
| The Meeting at Werbellin | 147 |
| The "Wende" | 152 |
| A German "Coalition of Reason" | 158 |
| A New Era between the Germanys | 164 |
| A Working Visit to Bonn | 173 |
| VI | The Fall of East Germany | 175 |
| The Illusion of Success | 177 |
| A Path of Least Resistance | 185 |
| A New Political Force | 193 |
| The West German Response | 199 |
| Unity Despite the Germanys | 204 |
| VII | Germany without a Wall | 207 |
| Inter-German Tensions of a New Type | 209 |
| A Liberal Democratic Germany | 216 |
| The New Germany and the New Europe | 222 |
| App. A. Interview Locations, 1985-1990 | 229 |
| App. B. GDR Oral History Project Interviews | 231 |
| Select Bibliography | 233 |
| Index | 245 |