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Rating: 
Summary: Informative, engaging, history as it was meant to be written
Review: Anyone with even the slightest interest in German history or the history of the Cold War will find this well-written analysis of how Germany was divided, why it remained divided, and how it was reunified very worthwhile. Smyser does an exceptional job of making sense of a crucial element of postwar Europe, balancing the influence of a few great men (Truman, Stalin, Clay, Adenauer, Brandt, Kohl, DeGaulle, and Gorbachev) with the larger political-economic influences at work during these years. He also very deftly places "the German Question" in a larger world context--linking, for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis and developments in Germany, and demonstrating how Allied uneasiness over Communist machinations in the Korean War led to the rearmament of Germany and its acceptance as a full-fledged member of the NATO alliance. He also reveals some surprising facts he has dug out of newly available Soviet archives--for example, that Stalin preferred to reunify Germany after the war, while the Western Allies opposed him because of his actions in Eastern Europe. For anyone who has lived through these years without knowing the full history--as I have, born in 1949--this book is especially enlightening. Smyser's style is at once lucid and persuasive, making this a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: Effectively served my needs
Review: I was only 5 when the Wall fell, and the Soviet Union began to collapse. I could not relate to the Cold War on the level to which my parent's generation can. I sought out this book for the purpose of building a foundation of my understanding of the events that took place in the Cold War with reference to Germany. This book effectively served my needs. It was well organized and presented research and arguments relevant to the german question formulated by Smyser. While my background with the subject matter is rather limited, I can assure you that a person who wishes to use this book for the purpose that I used it will be pleasantly suprised.
Rating:
Summary: Effectively served my needs
Review: I was only 5 when the Wall fell, and the Soviet Union began to collapse. I could not relate to the Cold War on the level to which my parent's generation can. I sought out this book for the purpose of building a foundation of my understanding of the events that took place in the Cold War with reference to Germany. This book effectively served my needs. It was well organized and presented research and arguments relevant to the german question formulated by Smyser. While my background with the subject matter is rather limited, I can assure you that a person who wishes to use this book for the purpose that I used it will be pleasantly suprised.
Rating: 
Summary: Detailed, dry and a good read
Review: This book is quite intriguing. Although a mass of detail, possibly too much, it made my 35 minute train journeys to the city go by very quickly. That shows how readable it is. Most interesting of all are the author's descriptions of the various political and military leaders, and I agree with another reviewer that Lucius Clay comes out of it very well. Ulbricht on the other hand appears as a right villain. One criticism is that Smyser hardly touches on the fact that the former East Germany has struggled so badly after unification. I have been there on more than one occasion, and various locals protest that they "had no problem with the GDR". They probably did, but things are not easy now, fourteen years on.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate Account and Great Inside Info by W.R.Smyser
Review: This is a really great and reliable account of the Cold War Struggle over Germany as a whole and/or parts thereof.
Smyser points out, that at the possibility of Re-Unification of German states time was of the essence (before an eventual Soviet Union Communist collaps, which actually happened). In order to grasp the opportunity of the moment, the illegally created Oder-Neisse River Line (Soviet Communist take-over of a third part of Germany and Expulsions) was left untouched. Smyser repeatedly refers to all four Occupiers, leaving things as they have been since 1945, a condition of giving their OK to Re-unification of the other two parts of Germany. Only one mistake, Rathaus Schoeneberg, city hall is not situated in the (former) British Sector of Berlin, but in the (former) American Sector. Remember, this is , where President Kennedy held his famous speech ( Ich bin ein Berliner) at Kennedy Platz (square). For todays books (even in schools), dealing with Eastern Germany/Eastern Europe and especially many internet articles, such as Wikipedia, are so very unfactual and full of mistakes, that this book with only one obvious mistake, is truly amazing.
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