"This book offers a description and interpretation of the most significant events, cruxes and ongoing themes in German history from the end of the Second World War up to the present. The main features of the last fifty years are not only vividly presented and interpreted, they are also placed in the context of international political developments." "The chronologies that accompany each chapter record the most important dates, facts and names occurring in the narrative. Jurgen Weber's text supplies the reader with a combination of descriptive history, chronology and a reliable reference work for the parallel lives of the two Germanies, a product of the Cold War."--Jacket.