“An impressive and important piece of work. This book will significantly enhance the literature on the subject of postcommunist transition and facilitate the understanding of a process that is often misunderstood, especially in the very unique circumstance of the former GDR. To my knowledge there is no analogous study in the English language.”—Ilya Prizel, Johns Hopkins University “Much of the ... Read morerecent literature on postcommunist ‘transitions to democracy’ simply ignores the East German experience, apparently assuming that reunification provided East Germans with an easy and ready-made route to democratic capitalism and that little may be learned about transitions from the German experience. Yoder rejects this simplistic notion, filling a serious gap in the transition literature and doing so with intelligence, insight, and style.”—Jane Dawson, University of Oregon Show Less