"It began with red flowers in the rifles of revolutionary sailors. It ended with swastika flags unfurled over cheering Berlin crowds. This was the era of The Weimar Republic, when Germany entered into an uneasy alliance with democracy, adn the forces of promise warred with those of despair. Now that spectacularly turbulent and critical period in German history is vividly brought to life through an assemblage of eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, diary extracts, memoirs, and photos"--Back cover.