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Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the Gdr 1949-1989
Contributor(s): Fulbrook, Mary (Author)
ISBN: 0198207204     ISBN-13: 9780198207207
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $104.50  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: May 1998
Qty:
Annotation: Founded on the ruins of Hitler's defeated Third Reich, and lacking any intrinsic legitimacy, the German Democratic Republic nevertheless became the most stable and successful state in the Soviet bloc. Yet in the "gentle revolution" of 1989 it collapsed with startling speed. How can this
extraordinary story of political stability followed by sudden implosion be explained?
With the opening of the East German archives, it is at last possible to look inside the apparently impregnable dictatorship. Mary Fulbrook provides a compelling interpretation of structures of power and patterns of popular opinion within the GDR. This absorbing study explores the ways in which the
tentacles of the all-pervading state captured East German society in the grip of Stasi, party, and mass organizations, and analyzes the emergence in the 1980s of oppositional cultures under the ambivalent shelter of a Protestant Church which had come to terms with the communist state.
In combining careful archival research with broader theoretical and historical interpretation, Anatomy of a Dictatorship makes a major contribution to debates on recent German history and the character of contemporary Germany.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe - Germany
Dewey: 943.087
Lexile Measure: 1580
Series: New Oxford History of England (Paperback)
Physical Information: 0.67" H x 6.15" W x 9.19" (1.07 lbs) 324 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Central Europe
- Cultural Region - Germany
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Founded on the ruins of Hitler's defeated Third Reich, and lacking any intrinsic legitimacy, the German Democratic Republic nevertheless became the most stable and successful state in the Soviet bloc. Yet in the gentle revolution of 1989 it collapsed with startling speed. How can this
extraordinary story of political stability followed by sudden implosion be explained?

With the opening of the East German archives, it is at last possible to look inside the apparently impregnable dictatorship. Mary Fulbrook provides a compelling interpretation of structures of power and patterns of popular opinion within the GDR. This absorbing study explores the ways in which the
tentacles of the all-pervading state captured East German society in the grip of Stasi, party, and mass organizations, and analyzes the emergence in the 1980s of oppositional cultures under the ambivalent shelter of a Protestant Church which had come to terms with the communist state.

In combining careful archival research with broader theoretical and historical interpretation, Anatomy of a Dictatorship makes a major contribution to debates on recent German history and the character of contemporary Germany.