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War By Other Means: Soviet Power, West German Resistance And The Battle Of The Euromissiles

Jeffrey Herf
Reviewed by By Gregory F. Treverton
Spring 1991
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Jeffrey Herf
The Free Press
1991
357 pp.
$24.95

This is not one more telling of the Euromissile tale. It is that, done well, but Herf's purpose is much broader: to probe the interaction between interstate power and internal political cultures. His particular concern is the postwar struggle for the soul of the West German political left, which came to a head in the debate over the missiles. He makes a powerful case: it is hard to imagine today's changes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union without the defeat the missile deployments represented for the Soviet Union and without the democratic victory reflected in the reaffirmed ties between West Germans and their allies.

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