A German Identity, 1770-1990 by Harold JamesReview by: Fritz SternForeign Affairs, Vol. 68, No. 5 (Winter, 1989), p. 216Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20044245 .

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216 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

in the life of a rare species: a cultivated man of thought, action, charm and wisdom.

SEVEN YEARS IN FRANCE: FRAN?OIS MITTERRAND AND THE UNINTENDED REVOLUTION, 1981-1988. By Julius W. Friend. Boul der (CO): Westview Press, 1989, 249 pp. $34.95.

An intelligent and highly readable account of the Mitterrand years that, Friend argues, have changed the political landscape of France. The left's

rejection of communism, the rise of Le Pen, and the Socialists' own change from doctrinaire to pragmatic politics are analyzed, and Mitterrand's

personal achievements?the very durability of his presence?are put in a broader context. A very good example of instant history.

IN HITLER'S SHADOW: WEST GERMAN HISTORIANS AND THE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM THE NAZI PAST. By Richard J. Evans. New York: Pantheon, 1989, 196 pp. $18.95 (paper, $8.95).

Yet another detailed review of the recent German controversy over the Nazi past. Evans emphasizes that the right-wing historians have had a

considerable and deleterious effect on the political culture of the Federal

Republic. A book, sober and restrained, that regrets the polemical tone of the German debate and essentially reaffirms the view of liberal historians

regarding the causes and consequences of National Socialism.

A GERMAN IDENTITY, 1770-1990. By Harold James. New York:

Routledge, 1989, 240 pp. $25.00. A young British historian, now teaching in the United States, presents a

non-German view of the perennial question "What is German?" Part conventional history from the end of the eighteenth century to the present, part clever insights into this history. James considers as crucial the role of

economic power as an ingredient in German nationalism and argues that that component will have a decisive part in shaping the future of the two

Germanies. He rejects the notion of a special path in German history, but

implicit in his analysis is a worry about German identity and stability in the future. An uneven and pleasantly unpredictable book.

NEW POLITICS IN WESTERN EUROPE: THE RISE AND SUCCESS OF GREEN PARTIES AND ALTERNATIVE LISTS. Edited by Ferdi nand M?ller-Rommel. Boulder (CO): Westview Press, 1989, 230 pp. $25.00.

A survey of Green parties in 12 European countries, by young academics from the United States and Europe, but all writing in the prevailing

American idiom of the social sciences. Informative, but narrowly special ized.

JOY IN WORK, GERMAN WORK. By Joan Campbell. Princeton: Prince ton University Press, 1989, 431 pp. $37.50.

A careful study of German thought from preindustrial to National

Socialist on the nature of work, on its centrality in human life, its

degradation in a mechanized world, and on the possibility of rationalizing and improving work, in part by emulating American practices such as

Taylorism. A historical monograph that explores a major strand in German

culture and in German self-definition.

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