David Childs is Professor of German Politics at the University of Nottingham.

• Chapter 1 The GDR in 1988 – a stable state?; Chapter 2 The GDR’s flawed development; Chapter 3 The Stasi and the internal security of the GDR; Chapter 4 Coping with Gorbachev; Chapter 5 Gorbachev 1989: ‘Life punishes those who come too late’; Chapter 6 The birth of the opposition parties; Chapter 7 The fifty days of Egon Krenz; Chapter 8 International reactions to events in the GDR; Chapter 9 Modrow’s fight to save the GDR; Chapter 10 The free elections of March 1990; Chapter 11 German unity achieved;

"a well-written narrative history...should be read by anyone who is interested in the decline and fall of communism" Contemporary Review, vol. 281, no. 1638, July 2002

David Childs is Professor of German Politics at the University of Nottingham.

• Chapter 1 The GDR in 1988 – a stable state?; Chapter 2 The GDR’s flawed development; Chapter 3 The Stasi and the internal security of the GDR; Chapter 4 Coping with Gorbachev; Chapter 5 Gorbachev 1989: ‘Life punishes those who come too late’; Chapter 6 The birth of the opposition parties; Chapter 7 The fifty days of Egon Krenz; Chapter 8 International reactions to events in the GDR; Chapter 9 Modrow’s fight to save the GDR; Chapter 10 The free elections of March 1990; Chapter 11 German unity achieved;

"a well-written narrative history...should be read by anyone who is interested in the decline and fall of communism" Contemporary Review, vol. 281, no. 1638, July 2002

David Childs is Professor of German Politics at the University of Nottingham.

• Chapter 1 The GDR in 1988 – a stable state?; Chapter 2 The GDR’s flawed development; Chapter 3 The Stasi and the internal security of the GDR; Chapter 4 Coping with Gorbachev; Chapter 5 Gorbachev 1989: ‘Life punishes those who come too late’; Chapter 6 The birth of the opposition parties; Chapter 7 The fifty days of Egon Krenz; Chapter 8 International reactions to events in the GDR; Chapter 9 Modrow’s fight to save the GDR; Chapter 10 The free elections of March 1990; Chapter 11 German unity achieved;

"a well-written narrative history...should be read by anyone who is interested in the decline and fall of communism" Contemporary Review, vol. 281, no. 1638, July 2002